Garlic milk for bubonic plague and COVID-19? How entrenched folk remedies fuel scientific misinformation
When London faced the bubonic plague in 1665, many people desperately sought a way to protect themselves and their loved ones from getting sick.
One widely adopted method consisted of mixing two small cloves of garlic in a pint of fresh milk. People believed that drinking this cocktail in the morning, on an empty stomach, would prevent the feared disease.
Like those living through the great plague of London, many people searched for remedies that would keep COVID at bay, which is why claims that garlic could cure or protect people proliferated on social media.
The claims prompted an exasperated World Health Organization to post tweets of caution.
