Chiropractors Are Feeding Their Patients Fake Information About The Coronavirus

Some chiropractors across the country are using social media to spread dangerous misinformation about the cause of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

St. Louis–based chiropractor Eric Nepute went live on Facebook last Monday, April 6, to urge his followers to drink quinine and eat zinc to combat COVID-19. Nepute’s video was captioned “Seriously. How much longer are we going to put up with all the BS..???” and has been viewed 21 million times and shared over 185,000 times since last Monday.

“Quinine acts similar to hydrochloroquine, OK,” Nepote said in the livestream. “Quinine acts as a transport chain to allow nutrients to get into the cells. So I'm telling everybody right now, if you know someone who's got flulike symptoms. If they've got symptoms of COVID-19, the cold, the flu, whatever. Go and get either some quinine and/or some Schweppes tonic water. Let me tell you this again: quinine and/or Schweppes tonic water. I need every one of you to be sharing this right now, I mean every one. Every person needs to share this because there's a lot of bullshit going on right now that everybody needs to know about. And I'm going to throw some common sense at you because most people aren't looking at this. Go get some quinine and get some zinc.”

BuzzFeed News has reached out to Nepute for comment. As of Monday night, the video contains a warning from Facebook’s third-party fact-checkers that it could contain partly false information.

A spokesperson for the American Chiropractic Association told BuzzFeed News that it was urging its members not to spread misinformation amid the outbreak.

“The [ACA] advises its members to follow guidance regarding the prevention of the coronavirus (COVID-19) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other credible sources and to share this information with their patients,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also said that the ACA Board of Governors released a statement to clarify that there is no substantial evidence to support that spinal adjustments, the core method that chiropractors use to treat patients, could prevent or treat COVID-19.