Medical practitioners in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Sunday warned patients to desist from using palm wine as treatment for Measles and Chicken pox.
They gave the warning in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
They said that taking vaccines and medical treatment were the safest form of treatment for both diseases.
Dr. Jane Eworo of Arewa Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic Centre, Abuja, sai there was a difference between the two diseases, contrary to people’s opinion.
“Measles and chicken pox are more rampant in children, people confuse them thinking they are the same thing, but they are not.
“In the case of measles, the child develops catarrh and cough for a few days before coming down with the virus, rashes appear on the skin with dark spots that are more clustered.
“In most cases, the rashes in chicken pox are bigger than the ones in measles.
“People are encouraged to give their babies the vaccine; taking the vaccine doesn’t mean that the person can’t have the disease. It just reduces the severity of the disease.
“For measles we give vitamin A, because of the complication of blindness; it causes itching, we give calamine lotion and then piriaton for the itching.
“In cases of cough and catarrh, anti biotics is given to prevent infection.”
On Palm wine and herbs used as home remedies, she said she had never heard of those forms of treatment before.
She, however, encouraged people to go through the medical treatment as the safest way to treat measles and chicken pox.
Mr. Oboghare Yohannes, a Pharmacist in the National Hospital Abuja, said measles and chicken pox were both contagious.
He said that medical treatment was still the best method of treatment for both diseases.
“Measles is a contagious disease transmitted by a virus known as Rubeola virus; chicken pox is caused by varicella zoster virus (VCZ) which is also contagious.
“For measles, death rate has actually reduced since there is a vaccine which is given to infants at nine months.
“Mortality rate has reduced by almost 75 per cent due to this.
“For chicken pox, vaccine has helped to reduce the death rate; mortality rate has now reduced to almost 60 per cent; it is also advisable to stay far away from infected persons to avoid contacting the disease.”
On treating measles and chicken pox with traditional methods, Oboghare said medical treatment was still the safest.
“We are in a modernised era, drugs are available for treating it, it can also be prevented by taking nourishing diets rich in vitamin A.
“Chicken pox can be treated through acyclovir (an anti-viral drug) and an anti-allergy cream which is applied to the affected areas.
“Dr. Aladdin’s is used to treat measles and chicken pox.”
Contrary to the opinion of the medical practitioners, some residents of Abuja claimed that palm wine and herbs were good and had helped in getting rid of measles and chicken pox.
Mr. Samuel Ojebode claimed that he had tried the use of palm wine before and it worked perfectly on his child without any form of side effects.
“I have used Palm wine and herbs to treat my child when she had measles.
“The process is very simple, the infected child body will be rubbed with palm wine, a small portion of boiled herbs would be given to the child to drink.
“After two to three days of repeating this method, the child would have been completely cured of the disease,” he said.
Mrs. Tope Joel also added that there was no negative effect in the use of palm wine for treating measles and chicken pox.
She said palm wine could be used as a medication because it is rich in vitamins which is the necessary vitamin for preventing measles and chicken pox.
“There’s nothing wrong in using palm wine to treat measles and chicken pox, I’ve used it on my children when they were infected with the disease and it worked perfectly on them.” (NAN)