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Fighting Dengue With Tawatawa and Papaya
Fighting Dengue With Tawatawa and Papaya
Fighting Dengue With Tawatawa and Papaya
The symptoms of dengue fever include high fever, rash, and severe headache
(dengue triad). Additional symptoms include severe joint and muscular pain
(breakbone fever), nausea, vomiting, and eye pain. Although dengue fever
itself is rarely fatal, it can be an extraordinarily painful and disabling illness
and may become epidemic in a population following the introduction of a new
serotype. Dengue fever is usually a self-limited illness, and only supportive
care is required.
As Dengue spreads in epidemic proportions across the country, it’s high time
we take a deeper look at customary or traditional cure in the absence of big
pharma drugs to combat the disease. The folklore herbal medicine against
dengue, Tawatawa tea, and Papaya leaves extract should not be dismissed or
even belittled.
On the other hand, a study in Pakistan on dengue fever treatment with papaya
(carica) leaves extracts was also published in the Asia Pacific Journal of
Tropical Biomedicine. In the study, a 45 year old feverish (40 oC) truck driver
bitten by an Aedes aegypti mosquito did not respond to a broad spectrum of
antibiotic and anti-malarial drugs. Three to four patients in the hospital who
showed the same symptoms already died. A team of researchers from
Peshawar University that was studying at that time on the chemical properties
of Carica papaya considered the victim for a papaya treatment case study.
In the treatment, plant material was washed with water, cut into pieces and
grounded with a blender. The 25 mL of aqueous extract of papaya leaves was
administered to a patient infected with Dengue fever. The same dose was
given to the patient twice daily i.e. morning and evening for five consecutive
days. The patient’s platelet increased after the papaya treatment, avoided
bleeding complication and survived.
The laboratory analysis of papaya leaves extract showed that it contains two
important biologically active compounds namely: chymopapain and papain
which are widely used for digestive disorders. It showed that papaya-derived
papain, caricain, chymopapain, and glycine endopeptidase can improve acidic
pH conditions and pepsin degradation. Other active compounds of C.
papaya are lipase, or CPL, a hydrolase, which is tightly bonded to the
water-insoluble fraction of crude papain and is thus considered as a “naturally
immobilized” biocatalyst. Said compounds increase platelets and prevent
platelet destruction, thrombocytopenia or bleeding. The different chemical
properties of papaya also show, accordingly, promise as a strong natural
candidate against viral diseases.
Further local studies were also conducted to support the above claims. In 2014,
student-researchers bagged first prize at the Gruppo Medica Award for their
research on the anti-dengue property of papaya (Carica papaya)
and tawa-tawa (Euphorbia hirta) during the 8th Philippine National Health
Research System (PNHRS) Week celebration in Cebu City. The research done
by Pharmacy students at the San Pedro College in Davao City revealed that tea
concoction from tawa-tawa can increase blood platelet counts in rabbits by
194% in just 24 hours. Results on tests done on tea concoctions from papaya
leaves only and a mixture of papaya leaves and tawa-tawa plant also
significantly increased platelet counts in rabbits within 24 hours. Further
laboratory tests on papaya and tawa-tawa revealed that both plants contain
quercetin, a plant pigment known to naturally increase the platelet counts.
Sources:
MindaNews
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3614241/
http://pchrd.dost.gov.ph/