A video about it went viral and claimed that the ‘temperature gun’ kills neurons, which is false according to the AFP search
Digital “gun” thermometers are safe and do not “kill neurons , as stated in a message that has been circulating since mid-June and has been shared thousands of times on social networks, ensures that infrared thermometers, frequently used in public spaces during health checks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, can cause neurological damage and "kill neurons ".
But the statement was rejected by the experts consulted by AFP Factual . Also, these devices are receivers, not emitters of energy.
You can see: Scientist affirms that Covid-19 will not disappear with warm weather
The message about the supposed risk of the “little gun” thermometers was shared more than 7,500 times on Facebook (1 and 2), on Twitter (1 and 2) and on YouTube.
The same content was sent for verification to the AFP Factual email and to WhatsApp , where a version with only the audio also circulates. The message sowed doubts in some users, who wonder whether to continue letting them take their temperature with these devices.
One of the main symptoms of COVID-19 is fever. Therefore, in the midst of the current pandemic, supermarkets, shopping malls, airports, hospitals and other public places control people’s body temperature with pistol-shaped thermometers, without direct contact being necessary. The viralized message on networks ensures that these devices pose a health risk.
“All the people who are in the supermarkets and in the stores do not give them information about what that little gun does. You don’t feel it, like when you go to the doctor and they do X-rays, you don’t feel it, but it’s being stored,” he begins.
And he adds: “I wonder how many times a week you go to the supermarket and they are radiating precisely on your head. Today 1,000 neurons kill you, tomorrow another 1,000, the day after tomorrow another 1,000 and that in the long run brings a number of alterations with your central nervous system that controls your automatisms and you will never know what it was because of that little light, ”says the message, broadcast by someone who introduces himself as “Dr. Jose Mena”.
In addition, he recommends requesting that the device not be worn on the head, but on the arm. "The temperature can be measured even in the big toe, it does not have to be in the head," he says.
A search on YouTube for the tag “#EnLaCabezaNo” that accompanies some of the publications on thermometers, allowed us to find another video, from 2019, entitled “training doctor JOSE MENA”, in which a man who seems to have the same voice speaks .
A new search for this name, this time on Google, led to a video, also from last year, in which he introduces himself as "José Mena Abud."
A search for that name in the National Registry of Professionals of Mexico confirmed that this person has been registered as a dental surgeon since 1977.
This is how gun-shaped digital thermometers work
According to this user manual from one manufacturer, gun-shaped digital thermometers work with an infrared sensor that measures body temperature and do not emit energy . That is to say, contrary to what the viral message assures, they do not “radiate”, but are receivers of external signals.
This measurement is then transformed into an electrical signal that is ultimately reflected on the digital display, indicating the person’s temperature. This procedure usually takes a few seconds.
Some of them have a small light, which works indicatively to know which sector of the user’s forehead to aim at.
The FDA, the federal agency that regulates medicines in the United States, indicates on its website that the use of this type of thermometer allows "reducing the risk of cross-contamination and minimizing the spread of disease", adding that they are easy to use, clean and disinfect. Among the general instructions for use, they do not mention the risk of neurological or other damage.
“ What the sensor [of the thermometer] does is only measure electromagnetic radiation [emitted by the user], it does not produce,” Antonio Estay, an academic at the University of Chile in the Department of Medical Technology, explained to AFP Factual, after being consulted by another viral misinformation that claimed that these devices caused ophthalmological damage.
For its part, the Puerto Rican Society of Ophthalmology also ruled on this other misinformation, and, quoting the ophthalmologist Vanessa López, detailed: “The thermometers to which we are exposed in the different localities work as a sensor that reads the infrared waves that we naturally emit all humans.”
The digital thermometer has no neurological impact
“As far as I am aware, there is no research showing that this type of infrared reception device causes neurological damage or any other tissue in the human body,” Federico Preve, a neurologist and member of the executive committee of the human body, told AFP Factual. Medical Union of Uruguay.
Preve, who was surprised by the content of the viral message, added that these thermometers "are safe devices and it is what is recommended to be used in this context of a pandemic, to avoid contact and thus reduce the risk of contagion."
María Vaccarezza, a child neurologist at the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, agreed with him. "It’s the first time I’ve heard this," he told AFP Factual, "[if there were risks] neurologists would know," he added, detailing that these devices have been used for a long time in airports to detect different pathologies.
After consulting the digital medical library Pubmed, Vaccarezza assured that there he found "nothing of any adverse effect [caused by infrared thermometers] or that they cause any complication or sequel or damage."
“There is no research [warning about adverse effects of these thermometers]. You always have to look at the medical articles for these issues, not be guided by rumors that circulate, "he added, noting that in the hospital where he works, these devices are used to measure the temperature of those who are admitted.
In summary, there is no evidence or scientific literature on the alleged neurological damage of the infrared thermometers mentioned in the viral publication, according to the experts consulted. In addition, as AFP Factual has already verified, these devices work with an infrared sensor that detects body temperature; They are receptors, they do not emit energy.