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the other side, as a cautionary measure

FROM SNOPES.COM

21 July 2009 post 1 from a certain joewein:
   
Dengue fever and papaya juice

A chain letter about juice from papaya leaves as a miracle cure for dengue fever seems to be circulating in India, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and other countries.

Here is a version I received recently:

Subject: Dengue fever remedy
Date: Wednesday, 15 July, 2009, 3:53 PM

PASS THIS INFORMATION TO AS MANY AS YOU CAN, IT MAY SAVE
LIVES.

Dengue Fever Remedy

I would like to share this interesting discovery from a
classmate's son who has just recovered from dengue fever.
Apparently, his son was in the critical stage at the ICU
when his blood platelet count drops to 15 after 15 liters of
blood transfusion.
His father was so worried that he seeks another friend's
recommendation and his son was saved. He confessed to me
that he gave his son raw juice of the papaya leaves. From a
platelet count of 45 after 20 liters of blood transfusion,
and after drinking the raw papaya leaf juice, his platelet
count jumps instantly to 135. (more at http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=48383])

I have not found any medical sources that back up this claim, only dozens and dozens of forwarded emails with no clearly traceable origin, so I'd be extremely skeptical about it.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=77831.0

Pegaga is the Malaysian term for Centella asiatica. The botanical name for Papaya is Carica papaya. They are neither the same plant nor are they related.

As has been pointed out in the quoted thread, the symptoms of dengue fever tend to last 5-6 days. The person whose case was discussed above had already been in hospital for three days and presumably had been ill before hospitalization. Therefore the juice "treatment" would have occurred at the tail end of the illness, right before nature takes its course and the symptoms would have subsided naturally because of the immune system fighting back, just as explained by the doctor in the story.

I would warn anyone against considering Pegaga or Papaya as an alternative to seeking professional medical treatment in case of dengue fever, as this could be life-threatening.

http://message.snopes.com/

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=77831.0