Govt department finds natural treatment for dengue
Solution from boiled papaya leaves can increase platelets for dengue patients, Public Health Ministry spokesman says
The Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine has found that solutions from boiling of papaya leaves can increase platelets for dengue fever and save lives of sufferers, a spokesman for the Public Health Ministry said on Sunday.
Jirapong Songwatcharaporn, a deputy spokesman of the ministry, said there was no medicine for a direct cure of dengue that caused the number of platelets of patients to plunge before the fever went away.
In several cases, dengue patients could suffer from shock and die, he said.
Jirapong said the department’s Phen Hospital has found that administering solutions from boiled papaya leaves could replenish declining platelets, thus reducing the severe symptoms of the disease and preventing deaths.
He said patients who drank the water from boiled papaya leaves did not suffer any complications.
Jirapong said some studies abroad came to similar conclusions.
Platelets, also known as thrombocytes, are tiny, disc-shaped fragments of much larger cells in the bone marrow called megakaryocytes. They are found in the blood and play a vital role in clotting blood and preventing excessive bleeding.
He said the department was also studying how to use papaya leaves to treat cancer patients as well.
Jirapong said Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin has a policy to promote the use of Thai herbs as alternative medicines to increase income for Thai farmers.
He said the ministry had recently secured a deal with a Chinese firm to buy bitter gourd in capsuled powder form from Thai farmers. He did not elaborate on the deal.
