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This question is about a myth popular in India and Pakistan (as printed). The myth is that drinking water or milk after eating watermelon causes cholera.

Have any experiments falsified/supported this myth?

Anko - inactive in protest
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user31782
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    Is this a duplicate of: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/4134/drinking-after-eating-fruits-causing-belly-ache ? – Oddthinking Jul 06 '14 at 17:21

1 Answers1

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According to Wikipedia:

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.

Thus, if a watermelon or any water contains that bacterium, you will get cholera from consuming it. The combination does not matter. If you consume things that don't contain this bacterium, you will not get cholera, no matter which things or in which combination.

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Michael Borgwardt
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  • Seems like a case of [post hoc ergo propter hoc](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_hoc_ergo_propter_hoc) – nico Sep 17 '14 at 17:03
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    While I think this is correct, it doesn't prove that Watermelon doesn't cause the body's "immunity shields" to drop for 15 minutes after eating watermelon, making it more susceptible to bacteria in the water. <- Obviously an invented scenario, but hopefully you see my point. – Oddthinking Sep 18 '14 at 00:28
  • Similarly, most people out there might be carrying this infection in some dormant state or on their skin. and be activated by some other clean stimuli. Like how a burn can cause ring worm, the fire does not actually have the infectious agent. – Jonathon Sep 22 '14 at 03:35