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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?

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    Is this a duplicate of: skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/4134/… ?
    – Oddthinking ♦
    Jul 6, 2014 at 17:21
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    I do it all the time. How is a bacteria produced magically. Just another crazy local Indian myth. Many people being un-educated causes such myths to spread.
    – Dudey
    Aug 28, 2016 at 22:12

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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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  • Seems like a case of post hoc ergo propter hoc
    – nico
    Sep 17, 2014 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, 2014 at 0:28
  • 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, 2014 at 3:35

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