A spectre is haunting Delhi — the spectre of dengue. For good reason residents of the national Capital have been gripped by panic because the enemy operates stealthily and it is not possible to distinguish between its lethal and non-lethal varieties. The tiny, blood-sucking irritant with which civilisation has coexisted for thousands of years has suddenly struck terror in Delhi’s heart.
History tells us that before antibiotics were discovered, humanity lived in similar fear of plague, influenza, TB and kala-azar. But in the case of dengue, diagnosis is long drawn; by the time it is confirmed and accurate treatment can be administered, the patient may easily succumb.
Although mosquitoes breed in stagnant water and unclean environs like rubbish dumps, they infect others of their kind and fly across vast areas, infecting people in slums and posh colonies, even sanitised places like hotels and restaurants alike. So nobody is safe.
Because it is difficult to guard against mosquito bites (and the human eye cannot spot the difference between the infection-bearing Aedes variety and the rest), people are in a blue fink trying to find preventives. Since there are no easy-to-swallow tablets that work, people are clutching at straws to protect themselves and their families.
As peddlers of traditional medicine prescribe consumption of goat’s milk and papaya leaves as sure-fire antidotes to the dengue virus, social networking sites are rife with these suggestions to cure dengue fever. In that belief, charlatans out to make a quick buck are selling jars of white liquid claiming their contents to be freshly milked from goats. Reports say itinerant sellers of latest Chinese toys or gadgets at street corners are now offering bottles of “goat’s milk” at exorbitant prices of up to
Rs1,000 a litre.
On Wednesday, The Pioneer visited AIIMS, RMl and Safdarjung Hospitals and found touts selling goat’s milk at Rs1,000 per litre and still people jostled with each other to buy it. Neelam, 45, mother of a 17-year-old girl who is admitted in AIIMS dengue ward, is ready to pay Rs1,000 for a litre of goat milk. She told The Pioneer that goat’s milk will increase the platelets count and will help her daughter gain strength to fight the disease. “At least goat’s milk can save the life of my daughter. I am ready to spend even more.”
Apart from goat’s milk, affected people are running helter-skelter to find papaya leaves. People with papaya trees in their backyard have reported they have been denuded of leaves. Some say the leaf thieves have scaled walls to enter their compound and pluck out the leaves systematically, to sell them at a huge mark-up, taking advantage of people’s gullibility.
Yogesh Kumar, 77, grandfather of a 10-year-old boy who is afflicted with dengue fever, said, “It (papaya leaves) will bring the fever down and allow my grandson to feel better.”
However, city doctors didn’t confirm whether goat’s milk and papaya leaves can prevent or cure dengue fever. According to doctors, once the platelets go down, it takes at least 4 to 5 days for the platelets to increase, depending on the immunity of the patient.
Undoubtedly, some prescriptions based on traditional medicine and ayurvedic medicinal herbs like giloi do work to control infections caused by viruses. But there is no foolproof scientific evidence of such home remedies.
So, in the meantime lactating goats are in serious danger of being abducted while the humble papaya trees stand to be denuded of their leaves. Some unscrupulous salesmen are said to be making a pile by selling any leaf that looks unfamiliar claiming them to be papaya to a largely ignorant urban clientele.
But it is difficult to blame people for the panic. Hospitals have no beds to offer patients for love or money. Doctors are overworked. Clinics are overburdened with blood samples, with patients demanding immediate tests. Platelets are being sold at a huge price and there are enough customers.
But the root cause of the panic --- the lethal mosquito, seems to flourish. The municipal corporations didn’t have the foresight to getting fogging done in time and even now, after dengue has assumed epidemic proportions are still keeping their fogging machines under wraps for reasons best known to them.