DENGUE FEVER & PAPAYA LEAF JUICE

I wish to share the following information regarding Dengue Fever & Papaya Leaf Juice that I have gathered from the internet and a forwarded email.

Dengue fever is caused by a virus that is being transmitted through the bites of infective female Aedes mosquitoes. This virus is not contagious and cannot be spread directly from person to person. There must be a person-to-mosquito-to-another-person pathway. However, presently there is no specific medicine or antibiotic to treat dengue caused by the virus.

It seems that dengue strikes people with low levels of immunity. The body contains two types of blood cells: red and white. White blood cells help to fight off illnesses. Dengue fever decreases the amount of white blood cells, thus exposing the patient to illness.

Some of the symptoms of dengue fever are: very high fever, nausea, headache, rash and dangerously low blood platelets count.

Dengue starts with chills, headache, pain upon moving the eyes, and low backache. Painful aching in the legs and joints occurs during the first hours of illness. The temperature rises quickly as high as 104° F (40° C), with relative low heart rate (bradycardia) and low blood pressure (hypotension). The eyes become reddened. A flushing or pale pink rash comes over the face and then disappears. The glands (lymph nodes) in the neck and groin are often swollen.

Fever and other signs of dengue last for 2 - 4 days, followed by rapid drop in temperature (defervescence) with profuse sweating. This precedes a period with normal temperature and a sense of well-being that lasts about a day. A second rapid rise in temperature follows. A characteristic rash appears along with the fever and spreads from the extremities to cover the entire body except the face. The palms and soles may be bright red and swollen.

Appropriate medical care frequently saves the lives of patients with the more serious dengue hemorrhagic fever. There is no specific treatment for classic dengue fever, and most people recover within 2 weeks. To help with recovery, health care experts recommend:

1) Getting plenty of bed rest.

2) Drinking lots of fluids for adequate hydration.

3) Taking medicine to reduce fever/severe headache and joint/muscle pain but Aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs should be avoided as these drugs may worsen the bleeding tendency associated with some of these infections.

4) A platelet transfusion is indicated in rare cases if the platelets level drops significantly (below 20,000) or if there are significant bleeding.

The emails speculating the goodness of papaya leaf juice for curing dengue fever suggested to take 2 tablespoon papaya leaf juice per serving once a day, prepared from using 4 pieces papaya leaf (without stem or sap) after cleaning, pound and squeeze with filter cloth. Someone suggested to juice the leaves using a gear juicer or blend the leaves using a food processor/blender, and then put them in a filter cloth to squeeze out the juice. Do not boil or cook or rinse with hot water, otherwise it will loose its strength. Its taste is horribly bitter and may have to swallow it as if drinking 王老吉 'Won Low Kat'.

Although there may be no scientific proof of this recommendation, but papaya leaf is known to contain very high amounts of vitamins A, C, E, K, B Complex and especially high in B17 (laetrile, which is used for the treatment of cancer). Moreover, papaya leaf juice is believed to increase the number of white blood cells in the body

We have also come across online postings about the use of papaya leaf juice helping dengue patients to increase the platelets count dramatically and later overcome the fever.

“Two of my friends were admitted to the hospital last year and we helped out by making for them, fresh juice from papaya leaves. After taking the papaya leaf juice, their blood platelets count increased rapidly and they were out of the hospital within days. One of them reported their platelets count at a dangerous level of only 8 (normal count is 150 and above). One week after she was discharged, her platelets count shot up to above 300.”

Such discussions on internet or circulation through emails may not be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. However, there is no harm of taking papaya leaf juice after a dengue patient has seen a doctor, and has been advised to have adequate rest and drink lot of water and fluids, whether hospitalized or not.

It's great if such natural cure could help to ease the sufferings of dengue patients. Who knows this might make naturopathy a little more popular as currently it seems that there is no cure for the dreaded dengue reaching epidemic proportions.

But one thing is sure; the only way to prevent dengue virus transmission is to combat the disease-carrying Aedes mosquitoes, by eradicating all possible breeding sites.

The Pericarp of Mangosteen

Append below more information from internet search on the nutritional values of mangosteen:

The mangosteen pericarp, about a half-centimeter thick, is green when unripe, then dark purple when ripe. That’s why it is also called “The Purple Mangosteen”.

When we eat mangosteen, we hold the fruit in both hands. The mangosteen pericarp looks tough and hardy, but is quite easy to open. What we do is using our thumbs to press on it gently and twist a little bit with our left hand turning anti-clockwise and our right hand turning clockwise until the pericarp cracks into two halves exposing the edible white flashy pulp which is sweet, juicy and delicious in taste. After eating, we will spit out the seeds and throw away the inedible pericarp without knowing that it is of highly nutritional values and benefits.

Accordingly, Asian Health Practitioners have long made use of mangosteen pericarp for a myriad of nutritional uses. The Southeast Asian people have been using the mangosteen fruit, especially the pericarp, to treat infections, reduce pain or control fever, and also treat various other illness and sickness.

Not surprisingly, dried mangosteen fruits have been shipped from Singapore to Calcutta and to China for medicinal use. The sliced and dried mangosteen pericarp, available in most Chinese drug stores, is powdered and administered to overcome dysentery. Made into an ointment, it is applied on eczema and other skin disorders.

It seems that mangosteen pericarp can absorb fats. Yesterday after a morning walk on part of golf course in Segamat Country Club, we sat down at the club house to chat while reading the newspaper. A Mr. Seow told us that his mum used to cook meat soup for her children and normally it turned out to be quite oily on the top layer of the boiled soup. When she added a few slices of mangosteen pericarp, somehow the meat soup was less oily as if the top layer of fat had been absorbed. He also said that boiling the mangosteen pericarp in water and then drink it would help to relief diarrheas and lower cholesterol.

As reported, the medicinal properties of the mangosteen fruit are derived mainly from its pericarp where powerful antioxidants (xanthones) are highly concentrated. The pericarp also contains a large number of biologically active substances, such as that of vitamins, catechins, polysaccharides, and stilbenes.

We have read that the presence of free radicals in our bodies has become the greatest threat to our overall health. They are able to attack each cell in the human body thousands of times per day, weakening it and making it susceptible to sickness and disease. Nevertheless, the rich antioxidants (xanthones) in the mangosteen pericarp, when consumed in the form of whole fruit mangosteen juice, are able to scavenge and neutralize the free radicals throughout our bodies. Apparently, it is highly effective in boosting weak immune systems.

[For information on original whole fruit mangosteen juice, click and visit http://www.myxango.com.my/jamesloh]