Herbal cure for dengue

In these days when dengue patients crowd even corridors and every available space of district hospitals in Iloilo Province, it is still: bawal magkasakit! And only health professionals, not this writer, can suggest cure for ailments.

Dengue has downed over 1,200 persons in Iloilo, 10 of them mortalities, the highest in Western Visayas. The region’s casualties hit past 2,000 cases since January. The cases are counting now that its rainy days when the population of mosquitoes explodes; two species of that are Aedes aegyptii and Aedes al bopictus that carry the dengue virus.

If you are stricken once, you are only assured immunity from one serotype; dengue virus has mutated into four (http://www.earthclinic.com/CURES/dengue.html) : the DEN  - 1 , DEN - 2, DEN – 3 AND DEN – 4.

DOH Secretary Eric Tayag admits there is no medicine against dengue. Dengue is a “self-containing disease”, thus, the conventional treatment of reducing the stress on patients and increasing their resistance through rehydration, nutrition and, when needed, blood transfusion.

Local experience though proves that necessity is the parent of inventions. While following the protocol (blood examination, confinement in hospital, etc) families resort to herbal medicine. The DOH and medical practitioners, though refusing to indorse it, tolerate herbal treatment while in confinement.

The media nowadays are rife with herbal treatment for dengue. Atty. Raul Tiosayco, newly assigned secretary of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Iloilo, personally experienced one tawa-tawa as cure: it saved his son for advanced stage of dengue.

Kumpanyero Raul thought his son had only an ordinary fever since it was still in the dry season. But as days passed, the boy got weaker as h is recurring fever spiked past 40 degrees Celsius. At the Guimbal district hospital, he learned that the dengue afflicting  his son was almost at terminal stage.

Luckily though, a friend brought him a plastic bag of tawa-tawa herb, told him to boil it and let his sick drink its tea. In three days, the patient was discharged from hospital fully recovered.

Now, Kumpanyero Raul would argue with anybody until dusk defending tawa-tawa herb that saved  his son.

Alex Centena, mayor of Calinog, Iloilo, on the other hand, prescribes another herbal medicine which he vouches to be “very effective” cure not only for dengue but a host of other diseases as well, including cancer.  He manually presses papaya leaves and stores the sap. A tablespoon of that three times daily drives away dengue in two days, he insists.

Hector Velez, an employee at the Iloilo Provincial Capitol, echoes Centena’s finding. His three kids in Januiay town had high fever and coughed heavily. It was night time and drugs stores were closed. His only option was to drive his sick children to the hospital.

He manually juiced papaya leaves, sweetened them with sugar and administered it to his weak  and sleepless children.

They slept soundly that night and woke up the next morning. “Daw ginpahiran lang sakit nila (Their fever disappeared like  having been wiped dry by a piece of cloth),” recalls Hector but can’t determine whether or not it was dengue which afflicted his kids.

Testimonies on benefits from kamote (http://www.foodrecap.net/health/benefits-of-camote-tops.) also abound. The crop is easy to grow. It is a “super food” packing with energy, protein, essential minerals, and vitamins. It reduces stress, speeds up recovery, raises resistance, lowers blood sugar, hypertension and cholesterol. I am referring to its leaves and tuber.

Kamote raises blood platelets, which thus, reduces stress on dengue patients who in turn recover fast.