Coping with dengue

By Herbert Vego

As reported by Mariela Angella Oladive for this paper, 63 barangays in Iloilo province have recorded 1,834 dengue victims across 23 towns and Passi City between January 4 and August 8 this year.

Of that number, 239 were logged in one week from August 2 to 8.

The fatalities are not so scary, however, within that seven-month period. According to the Iloilo Provincial Health Office (IPHO), only seven have died.

The Iloilo City Health Office (ICHO) has not provided a corresponding update, and last reported 140 dengue cases from Jan. 1 to June 27.

No less than Iloilo City Mayor Raisa Treñas heads the team charged with anti-dengue misting in the barangays.

This viral disease – characterized by high fever, aches, skin rashes, muscle and bone pain – stems from bites of female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

Anyway, I would rather not dwell on statistics.  Suffice it to say, our hospitals today can take good care of confined dengue patients. Their chances of survival outweigh the risk of death.

Kudos to the local governments of both the city and province of Iloilo, which are doing their best to contain the outbreak by buying misting machines that spray insecticides to control mosquitoes around homes and buildings. As a proverb goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

While health authorities say there is still no approved medicine for dengue, knowing its cause is enough to fight this manageable disease.

Our basic knowledge is that the dengue virus depletes the victim’s platelets, which are large cells produced in the bone marrow that slow down or stop bleeding. Whenever a victim’s platelet count drops to “inadequate” or below 10,000 platelets per microliter, it may cause fatal bleeding.

This explains why hospitals require platelet transfusion for serious dengue patients. Based on research done at Washington University (St. Louis, Missouri), Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (Silver Spring, Maryland), and the University of Copenhagen (Copenhagen, Denmark), a strong immune system is our best defense against dengue.

I would like to believe it.  At age 76, I have never caught dengue.

Studies on the immune system reveal that by the time a baby turns one year old, he or she would have developed nearly a trillion different antibacterial and antiviral agents in his body to protect him from diseases. Antibodies recognize and trap bacteria, viruses, and toxins. Once these foreign substances are “tagged,” our body’s “killer cells” can easily destroy them. If the child retains them into adulthood, he remains protected.

As we age, our immune system takes longer to react to attacks. That slow reaction time allows germs to break through and invade our cells.

Given that reality, why have our Department of Health (DOH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) not paid attention to the development of herbal medicines that have reputedly done wonders to boost platelet count without the need for hospitalization?

In the wake of the Dengvaxia vaccine fiasco that cost the DOH P3.5 billion pesos, we are still looking for medicinal solutions that may be available but are not FDA-approved.

It’s a pity our health authorities are deaf, mute, and blind to herbal medicine.

According to a review published in the African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines, extracts and compounds from medicinal plants have “antiviral properties” which may present an inexpensive cure for dengue. Among them are teas made from the leaves of papaya and the “tawa-tawa” (Euphorbia hirta) herb, which contain platelet-activating properties.

If I heard it right, a local laboratory applied for and obtained FDA approval for tawa-tawa, but only as a food supplement, so doctors cannot prescribe it for dengue.

Sad to say, that is not katawatawa.

-oOo-

BARONDA FAMILY PAYS MORE POWER BILLS

ILOILO City Rep. Julienne “Jam-jam” Baronda must have felt alluded to by the warning of National Electrification Administration (NEA) Administrator Antonio Almeda that some government officials do not pay their electricity bills.

This prompted her sister, Vice Mayor Lady Julie Grace Baronda, to tell Aksyon Radyo that their MORE Power bills—addressed to their father, former Councilor Urminico Baronda—had been paid.

OK ah!