People,
There have been some emails circulating on the web about magic treatments for dengue like drinking papaya leaf juice etc. Please be wary of things like this unless you have concrete medical confirmation.
As an example, I got a mail from a batchmate of mine from college which went something like this:
Dear All
Like to share this interesting discovery from a friend's son who has just recovered from dengue fever. Apparently, his son was in the critical stage at the SJMC ICU ( jaipur) when his platelet count dropped to 15 after blood transfusion also. His father was so worried that he seeked another friend's recommendation and his son was saved. He confessed that he give his son raw juice of the papaya leaves. From a platelet count as low as 45 after blood transfusion, it jumped to 135 after drinking the raw papaya leaf juice. Even the doctors and nurses were surprised. After the second day he was discharged. So he asked to pass this good news around. Accordingly it is raw papaya leaves 2 pcs just clean and pound and squeeze the juice thro cloth filter. You will only get one tablespoon per leaf. So two tablespoons per serving once a day. No need to boil or cook or rinse with hot water, it will lose its strength. Only the leafy part has to be taken, no stem or sap. It is very bitter and you have to swallow it. But it works wonders!!!!
Another story doing the rounds is:
A friend of mine had dengue last year. It was a very serious situation for her as her platelet count had dropped to 28,000 after 3 days in hospital and water had started to fill in her lungs. She had difficulty in breathing. She was only 32-years old. Doctor said there's no cure for dengue. We just have to wait for her body immune system to build up resistance against dengue and fight its own battle. She already had 2 blood transfusions and all of us were praying very hard as her platelet continued to drop since the first day she was admitted. Fortunately her mother-in-law heard that papaya juice would help to reduce the fever and got some papaya leaves, pounded them and squeezed the juice out for her. The next day, her platelet count started to increase, her fever subsided. She was given papaya juice regularly and she recovered after 3 days!!!
Another slightly more detail oriented friend sent this to the HR Head in his company who checked with some doctors. They said that this was completely wrond and that dengue was not curable by using papaya leaf juice.
Sanjiv
