A doctor’s shocking warning to avoid kissing a dead person’s head as they lie in a casket at a funeral has taken the internet by storm.
Dr Viktor Ivanovik, a Moldovan physician with over 1.2 million followers on TikTok, claimed that dangerous bacteria start growing on corpses just nine hours after death.
In the clip titled ‘Never kiss a dead person!’ Ivanovik said that coming into contact with this bacteria could cause the kisser to lose their sense of smell and suffer cardio-respiratory problems.
‘Do not kiss the deceased on their final journey, especially in the summer or in the room where the lifeless body is placed if there is no air conditioning,’ Ivanovik said.
‘Kiss the deceased when the lifeless body is in the custody of an air-conditioned morgue at an appropriate temperature,’ he added.
The controversial advice has set off a wave of debate, with mourning families on social media slamming the advice as insensitive, and fact-checkers calling the doctor’s claims exaggerated.
However, Dr Stuart Fischer, a New York City-based internist, declared the claims to be nonsensical and simply not possible, given the amount of immune defenses the human body contains.
‘In any given person, there are many different types of good bacteria, but they all serve a purpose. It would be like having 100,000 secret service agents to guard someone,’ Dr Fischer told DailyMail.com.
US doctors have pushed back on the claims that kissing a deceased loved one at a funeral could transmit dangerous bacteria
Dr Viktor Ivanovik (pictured), who has over one million followers on TikTok, claimed that kissing a dead person at a funeral could cost you your sense of smell
‘In other words, the bacteria would be outnumbered, and they would die quickly because of the immune system of the supposedly newly infected person,’ Dr Fischer said.
Dr Ivanovik’s claims have spread fear that someone’s final goodbye could spread potentially deadly pathogens like Staphylococcus or Clostridium.
‘How come I’ve never heard of this before in my life as a physician for 45 years?’ Dr Fischer asked.
‘That means that the loved ones would die or be hospitalized within a day or two. I don’t believe it’s happening,’ he continued.
The World Health Organization (WHO) agreed with Dr Fischer’s take on the TikTok claims, noting that even after a natural disaster, ‘there is no evidence that corpses pose a risk of epidemic disease.’
‘Most agents do not survive long in the human body after death. Human remains only pose a substantial risk to health in a few special cases, such as deaths from cholera or hemorrhagic fevers,’ WHO added in a statement.
While Dr Ivanovik may have a massive following online, his medical credentials could not be verified by multiple media outlets, both in the US and Europe.
Dr Fischer added that Ivanovik’s TikTok video did not take into account the professional manner in which bodies are preserved for funerals in modern times.
Dr Viktor Ivanovik claimed that a dead body releases harmful bacteria 9 hours after death
‘For burials, the funeral directors take things like this into account also,’ Dr Fischer revealed.
‘There would certainly have been cases of this before. This is not something where you could suddenly have a brand new epidemic of something,’ he added.
While the doctor didn’t personally endorse kissing a deceased loved one at a funeral, he noted that there was nothing medically wrong with choosing to do so if it brings a grieving relative comfort.
Although Ivanovik’s TikTok post was liked by many of his followers, others rejected his advice, saying that their final moment with a dead relative was worth any risks.
‘I kissed my father, and I would do it a million times more! I can even lose my taste and smell, he’s my father!’ one person replied.
‘Honestly, I don’t think anyone can resist kissing their parent on the hand or forehead, one last time,’ another poster commented.
‘It’s hard when you break up with someone you love. For example, a child, mother, father, brother, etc. Maybe you’re right, scientifically, but, in such a situation, it’s hard,’ a social media user added.
