Dr Sermed Mezher, a London GP, has posted a video on Tik Tok with misinformation that you can contract HIV and hepatitis from blood stained toilet roll, which has had over one million views. According to HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust, this is “extremely worrying as no-one has ever contracted HIV from toilet roll”.
The claims have been refuted by Terrence Higgins Trust’s Medical Director Kate Nambiar, who said: “Nobody has ever contracted HIV or hepatitis from toilet roll. That’s because HIV doesn’t survive for long outside the body.
“Once HIV is exposed to air it weakens quickly and transmission only takes place when it passes from one person’s body into another body. Hepatitis B and C are able to stay active for longer outside the body but are inactivated by drying so transmission is effectively impossible.”
Since publication of the Tik Tok, Dr Mezher has released a following post on X, formerly Twitter: “I’d like to apologise for the harm caused with the information shared in my video. I was trying to make an attempt to dispel other misinformation and ended up sharing my own. For this I am truly sorry. I have deleted the offending content and issued a correction.”
2/ the correction notice (posted on all my platforms) can be found here: https://t.co/IRPudyVaVa
— Dr Sermed Mezher 🇬🇧🇮🇶💙 (@DrSermedMezher) September 14, 2024
