Dengue....

THERE is hope that the dengue scourge will be obliterated. I was in a
meeting in Manila recently with other Napolcom officials. While
waiting for
my flight back to Cebu, I happened to talk with friends. The
conversation
eventually turned to dengue. Some of their statements shocked me. I
called
up the persons concerned and they confirmed these revelations.

Computer technician Wenceslao Salesale Jr., 27, was downed by
dengue. His
platelet count plunged from 180 to 80. He was rushed by ambulance
from
Novaliches to Manila. Inside the ambulance, a relative, acting upon
the
advice of a missionary priest, made him drink soup made from camote
tops.
The following day, his platelet count became normal.

Dengue attacked the 7-year-old daughter of engineers Mar and Lita
Budlongan
of Kaloocan City. Her platelet count read 80. The same treatment was
used.
The following day she was back to normal.

The 15-year-old daughter of businessman Nepomuceno Salaga of
Sampaloc,
Manila had a dangerous platelet count of 80 due to dengue. The same
treatment was followed. The following day she was back in school.

I asked a doctor of medicine about herbal cures and he said that
many, if
not most, medicines come from plants. He also said that under the
Hippocratic Oath, doctors are bound encourage anything that can cure
a
patient.

Research

We need not do research deep in the rainforests of the Amazon or
venture
into the ocean depths in search of the elusive cure for dengue. It
is right
there in the backyard.

The following information is from Wikipedia:
"In 1992, the Center for Science in the Public Interest compared the
nutritional value of sweet potatoes to other vegetables. Considering
fiber
content, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron and
calcium, the sweet potato ranked highest in nutritional value.
According to
these criteria, sweet potatoes earned 184 points, 100 points over
the next
on the list, the common potato (NCSPC)."
"ŠSweet potato tops are excellent sources of antioxidative compounds,
mainly polyphenolics, which may protect the human body from oxidative
stress that is associated with many diseases including cancer and
cardiovascular diseases. Sweet potato greens have the highest
content of
total polyphenolics among other commercial vegetables studied.
"Sweet potatoes contain protein, dietary fiber, lipid, and essential
minerals and nutrients such as calcium, phosphorous, magnesium,
sodium,
potassium, sulfur, iron, copper, zinc, manganese, aluminum and
boron. Sweet
potatoes are also important sources of vitamin A,
thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and ascorbic acid."

Camote

In the case of Salaga, he bought five sheaves (bugkos/ bigkis) of
camote
cuttings. Each sheaf consists of about 12 cuttings. Each cutting
measures
about one foot. A sheaf costs about P5.
Camote tops are boiled in water to extract the juice. The boiling
lasts for
about five minutes. A little salt is used to give flavor to it. The
patient
is made to drink slowly and gradually. The body's immunity system is
thus
revived, making dengue helpless against the body's natural defenses.
Camote
enables the body to heal itself.

Now you know why I earlier said that my friends' revelations shocked
me.
They were shocking because people are needlessly dying all around us
from
dengue, while their very cure is also all around us.

In the past, many were fond of using the derogatory statement, "Go
home and
plant camote.
" Now, camote is big news. It can save lives. What could be bigger
than
that?
So, to fortify your family against dengue, "Go home and plant
camote!"