Fact Checking the Arab Media

On October 9, 2021, the website of the Lebanese Kateab party, published a story entitled: “A simple daily habit that holds the secret to protecting you from Corona and its mutations.” The piece, which was not attributed to any author, essentially rehashed (unfortunately without any links) a UK-based Daily Mail report from two days before that was itself based primarily on a recent Cairo University study showing the benefits of mouthwash and good oral hygiene in general when it comes to preventing the spread of COVID.

Overall, the Kateab website report accurately echoed what the Daily Mail had earlier reported, explaining that, “A recent study has confirmed using mouthwash every morning may help protect you from the Coronavirus, according to what the British newspaper ‘Daily Mail’ quoted in a report…[The] Egyptian study is the latest in a long series of studies that have linked poor oral hygiene to the risk of infection with corona, which prompted the public to take better care of their teeth.” The website added that the scientists who conducted the Egyptian study believe, “the mouth may act as a reservoir for the virus… The more of the virus in a person's body, the more likely they are to develop severe symptoms of the disease.”

The Kateab report, however, partially undermines the utility of these limited, fact-based claims by exaggerating the potential effect of mouthwash in combatting COVID through its headline that claims it simply “holds the secret” for protection. The opening lede even walks back the headline a bit by inserting the characterization “may hold,” but it still repeats the misleading idea that mouthwash offers some kind of a powerful, “secret” weapon in the battle against COVID, extending the claim to include “mutations” as well.

Although the World Health Organization and some manufacturers have downplayed the effect of mouthwash when it comes to COVID, as one medical expert wrote in a September 2021 News-Medical.net article, while mouthwash has “the potential to reduce the spread of COVID, it is important to note that the use of mouthwashes should not replace the ongoing practices of face masks and social distancing,” among other protective measures.

By exaggerating the potential effect of mouthwash (i.e. it’s a “secret” weapon), the Kateab website turns an accurate accounting of recent scientific literature on the subject into a misleading report that could actually be harmful for people if they assume the mouthwash “secret” to be truly a secret weapon.