“HOW TO TREAT INGUINAL HERNIA,” begins a Facebook post shared in Nigeria.
It continues: “Bark of kigelia africana (sausage tree in French) - Bark of spathodea campanulata (Tulip tree from Gabon in French) 9 palm almonds ... Put the ingredients in a pot, add water and prepare the herbal tea on the fire.”
It goes on to give the dosage for children and adults.
Kigelia africana, the sausage tree, belongs to the Bignoniaceae family. Spathodea campanulata, known as the African tulip, belongs to the same family.
Inguinal hernia is when a piece of the human intestine pokes through a weak spot in the abdominal muscles near the groin.
If a baby’s abdomen’s lining doesn’t fully close during development, the baby can get indirect inguinal hernia. Direct inguinal hernia occurs in older adults when the muscles of the abdominal wall weaken. The condition rarely affects women.
But does the mixture treat this medical condition?
Surgery the only treatment
“The claim is false,” Lohfa Chirdan, a professor of paediatric surgery at the University of Jos, told Africa Check. “It should be ignored. I am a professor of paediatric surgery, and surgery is the only treatment for hernia – except if the child has what we call hydrocele, which eventually goes before they turn one.”
Mustafa Asani, a professor of paediatrics at Bayero University Kano, said there was no scientific evidence that the mixture treated inguinal hernia.
“My advice to anyone who has inguinal hernia is to visit a hospital."
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