Necrotizing fasciitis-infected bananas have been the boogeyman of potassium lovers and people who enjoy checking their email unmolested by chain letters for over a decade. Now, rumors of flesh-eating bananas are resurging in Mozambique, where an email hoax is bedeviling plantain superfans. The email's spurious medical warning advises readers to avoid bananas for three weeks, reports AFP:

Especially bananas from KwaZulu-Natal province in neighbouring South Africa carried the virus, according to the hoax. Banana sales in the capital Maputo fell sharply despite the fact that Mozambique does not import bananas from its neighbour. In a separate statement South Africa's agriculture ministry denounced the messages as a hoax. It strongly advised against burning the skin around the supposed infection, as suggested in the message.

So not only are people avoiding my favorite underrated starch (no offense, millet), but they're being advised to light themselves on fire. Next thing you know, Bananadine will be the new anal beer bonging. Yup, it's time to abolish the internet yet again.

Top image by RKay.