Claim:
A recent viral message claims that a drug called Caripill can cure dengue in 48 hours.
There are various claims of curing dengue going around on social media, let’s find out if there is any truth to them.
True of False?
FIT spoke to Dr Suranjeet Chatterjee, senior consultant in Internal Medicine Department of Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, who denied claims that there was a miracle medicine curing dengue in 48 hours.
“So far, there is no medicine that works for curing dengue in just 48 hours.”Dr Suranjeet Chatterjee
Dr R Achal, an MD in Ayurveda fromDeoria, Uttar Pradesh, also confirmed this saying that dengue cannot be cured in 48 hours.
“Dengue is a viral infection, whose duration of evacuation period is five days. So our aim is to keep the patient alive for five days and to avoid serious complications. Post this, the effect of the virus itself starts decreasing.Dr R Achal
What Is Caripill?
The Times of India reported that Caripill is a medicine launched in 2015 by Bengaluru-based pharma company Micro Labs. the tablet and syrup contain carico papaya leaf extracts.
According to the Caripill website the medicine helps in increasing the platelet count in dengue patients but there is no claim to completely cure the viral infection in 48 hours.
Furthermore, two clinical studies by the Journal of the Association of Physicians of India, found that its use increased platelet count but there was no mention of it being used to cure dengue. owever these studies did not occur on patients whose platelet count was severely reduced, nor were they compared with patients receiving transfusion therapy.
Papaya Leaves And Dengue - What’s The Connection?
Dr Achal said that nothing has been said about papaya leaves in any ancient book of Ayurveda, but the fruit and root are mentioned. Papaya leaves have been used as a traditional treatment to slow down the reduction of platelet counts and nothing more.
However, Dr Chatterjee says that there have been talks about papaya leaves for a long time, but there is no concrete evidence on how effective this can be.
Ayurveda and Allopathy Doctors Say This Message Is Fake
According to both Dr Chatterjee and Dr Achal, there is no medicine for dengue. Therefore, the claim made in the message that Caripill can cure dengue in 48 hours is completely false.
There is no specific treatment for dengue although in allopathy, attention is given to the prevention and control of high fever, dehydration and other complications. Similarly, Ayurveda also focuses on increasing the immunity of the body and controlling high fever.
Doctors say that such messages should not be relied on at all, and both modern medicine or Ayurveda patients need supportive care under the supervision of experts.
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