Medicine that cures dengue in 48 hours: Did you get this forward on WhatsApp? Read this before forwarding

A message about a medicine that claims to cure dengue in 48 hours has been doing the rounds on WhatsApp. Here's why you should not forward it to others.

By: Anuradha Varanasi | | Updated: August 12, 2016 9:50 am

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In the last few days, a message about a medicine that can cure dengue within 48 hours has been doing the rounds on WhatsApp. The picture grabs your attention with the bold font and says that a medicine is known as Caripill, that contains papaya leaf extracts, can cure dengue.

The message also claims that the medicine is being sold by Antahkarana and comes with contact numbers where it can be ordered. As a layman, it is easy to get carried away with such tall claims on social media. However, these miracle cure claims are far from the truth. After calling on those numbers, we found that the message is fake.

I tried the first number, and it was answered by a man with a South Indian accent. He identified himself as Dr Vishwanath Halnikeri and immediately told me that the WhatsApp message is fake and that Antahkarana is a homoeopathic clinic in Belgaum, Karnataka.

‘We have been getting phone calls after that message was circulated by someone on WhatsApp. However, the medicine was just photoshopped on one of our ads. Our clinic is in no way associated with Caripill,’ he said.

It turns out, Caripill is a botanical pill manufactured by a pharmaceuticals company called Micro Labs in Bangalore. Speaking to TheHealthSite, Dr Manjula Suresh, VP of Medical Affairs, Micro Labs Ltd, says, ‘We are unaware about this message being circulated on WhatsApp. Caripill is a prescription medicine, and we market it only to the doctors. We don’t say that it can cure dengue in 48 hours. In fact, the medicine has to be taken for five days.’ Read: A vaccine against dengue may be a reality.

‘There is no miracle cure for dengue and Caripill only helps in improving the patient’s platelet count. This picture was circulated on WhatsApp by someone else, and we will look into the matter,’ adds Dr Manjula. Here’s what you need to know about dengue treatment and prevention.

Every year during monsoon, there is a spurt of dengue cases and even deaths in various states across India. In fact, Dr Pradip Shah, a physician with Mumbai’s Fortis Hospital says that in the last ten days itself, he has seen more than 50 patients being diagnosed with dengue. These are the symptoms of dengue you should know about.

However, Dr Shah says that there is not even evidence that Caripill can help in improving a dengue patient’s platelet count and that further studies are required to prove its efficacy. ‘Many patients are aware of Caripill and ask me to prescribe it to them. However, it is not possible to cure dengue within only 48 hours. Dengue fever takes at least 8- 10 days to be treated and even longer in cases where the patient suffers from dengue shock syndrome or haemorrhagic fever,’ he says. Here are the 33 FAQs about dengue answered.

Image Source: WhatsApp forward

Published : August 10, 2016 6:42 pm | Updated:August 12, 2016 9:50 am

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