Fact Check: Viral image of a snake inside a plaster cast on a fractured leg is not real
X-ray is a type of medical imaging that uses radiation to take pictures of the inside of the human body.
Snake sneaks into plaster cast
X-ray is a type of medical imaging that uses radiation to take pictures of the inside of the human body. X-rays are commonly used to diagnose broken bones and teeth needing repair, etc. They provide diagnoses of injuries, disorders and diseases. X-rays can help providers evaluate parts of the digestive system and diagnose conditions like kidney stones, bladder stones, etc. X-rays work by sending beams of radiation through the body to create images on an X-ray detector nearby. Radiation beams are invisible and can’t be felt.
Solid and dense objects like bones absorb radiation easily, so they appear in the grey shade on the X-ray. People swallow several bizarre things like candy sticks etc which show up in the X-rays. Recently, an X-ray of a plaster cast, with a snake and a round object inside it, is in circulation on WhatsApp with a claim that live snake had sneaked up into the plaster cast, while the person was sleeping out in the open.
The users shared the image with captions: “This is crazy! A snake inside a plaster cast, nice and warm I’m guessing”. The text on the image goes as “This is not a snake and ladder, this is a snake in plaster. Snake took shelter inside the plaster. The patient was sleeping out of the house in open”
Here are some similar posts found on other social media platforms.
Fact check:
The claim is False. The image is not real.
When we checked the comments on this post, we found that the X user himself shared a comment stating that one of his friends dared him to share the image on X.com and that it was taken from an Instagram account. He also stated that he shared the image knowing that it is fake.
Another doctor shared this image on his LinkedIn account asking the viewers how many reasons they can come up with that this image is fake. Several doctors shared their opinions on this post stating that the image is a fake one. We found a comment of a pediatric orthopaedic imaging technologist stating the snake is fake as a real snake will not be so well visualised in an X-ray image. She also adds that the coin could be a half-dollar or a round metal object.
When we checked on how snakes are seen in an X-ray image, we found that the X-ray images do not match with the viral image. The skeletal system of the snake is seen in the X-rays and not the skin or the scales. X-rays of any animal show features of its skeletal system, digestive system, and other injuries and diseases due to the denseness of the tissues.
Here is the comparison of both the X-rays.
Therefore, the viral image is not a real X-ray image, it is a fake image of a plaster cast. The claim is false.