BY DR MBUYI MASUWA
SECTION A: THE INTRODUCTION
TO think that a huge metallic bird weighing tones and tones of kilogrammes, carrying a lot of people can fly with precision from point A to point B and nowadays it almost flies all by itself, is just mind boggling and more so we can’t even begin to think how putting a rocket on Jupiter with almost perfect accuracy is achieved.
All this is possible thanks to the understanding and implementation the laws of Physics which themselves are the incredible works of this one man from the 17th Century Sir Isaac Newton (4TH January 1643 died on March 31ST1727). But what most may not know is that Sir Isaac Newton was an Alchemist, he belonged to group of people that believed in and were in search of the Elixir of Youth through the Philosopher’s stone which up to now has not yet been found and the Alchemists are still looking for.
With the cases rising so high in Africa and South Africa leading and the death rate so high, indeed so many people are feeling the impact of the pandemic. Many people have died and are still dying, whether commoners or the prominent all are succumbing, leaving devastated and severely heartbroken loved ones.
Most people are now desperate for the cure and amidst this desperation there have come up people making a lot of claims of having found a cure over a miraculous drug? Indeed we are in search of our own philosopher’s stone when it comes to finding the cure for Covid-19.
A lot of people have come up with, claiming having found a cure or some miraculous drug that will end this pain and misery.
I think most of us by now have heard of so many such claims from different people of different walks of life which also include some scientists, clinicians etc and others from traditionalists, the clergy, the politicians including some presidents, some of these now former, and the most from social media scientists.
So in these series I would like to talk about such of claims. Some claims are based on clinical trials that are said to have been carried out while others the only trial required is how much data one has and how fast one can download the particular claim from what I know call The SMS (Social Media Scientist) page.
Of course I won’t be able to cover all the claims but will try as much as possible to cover the most common ones and share what is scientifically agreed upon to date on some of these topics.
Again, the purpose of this is not to approve or disapprove any drug or claim but to just share information. Some of you may even be taking some of the medications prescribed, maybe even by your doctors, while I think most of you it is self-prescription out of desperation and fear.
One thing we should know, all these substances including just common scientifically proven and most common abused painkiller Panadol has its own adverse side effects and can even kill when taken in excess.
There are so many cases of Paracetamol poisoning, it literally cooks the liver into very tiny bloody particles which leads to the victim vomiting and coughing blood and whose outcome is fatal.
So we are going to look at some of these drugs or methods, how they came about, any trials, the findings, the side effects etc.
Some of you have requested me to comment on the following: Hydroxychloroquine, The Madagascar Formula, Convalescent Plasma, Plasma Exchange Therapy, Remdesevir, Colchicine, Dexamethasone, other traditional methods like Steaming with Eucalyptus Oil and so many other home remedies being promoted.
Most recently, Ivermectin is making a lot of headlines, is it the philosopher’s stone we all have been looking for?
The word cure comes from latin “cura” meaning “care,” “concern” or “attention,” it means to “heal,” to “make well,” to “restore” to good health.
This means that after medical treatment, the patient no longer has that particular condition anymore.
Examples of diseases with a cure is Malaria. This means when one has malaria a blood slide will be done to confirm the presence of Malarial Parasites under a Microscope and then after treatment the repeat is done and absence of those parasites being evidence that Malaria has been cured. The cure is currently Coartem or Artesunate, depending on the severity of the disease.
The same applies to syphilis being treated by penicillin. And TB is another with the cure being a combination of Rifampicin, Ethambuto, Isoniazid, Pyrazinamide, Pyridoxine and other drugs for the Multidrug Resistant (MDR) type.
COVID-19 HAS NO CURE YET
As far as I am concerned and far as it is of today January 26, 2021, there is no known substance scientifically and universally agreed upon to treat and cure Covid-19.
Of course there are many drugs that are being used, I do use some on my patients mainly as supporting of the body to fight Sarscov2 and not as a cure.
If there is one who is thirsty for the Covid-19 Philosopher’s stone, it is I. I want to give it to my patients struggling to breathe, there is nothing so painful like seeing these helpless angels suffer the worst kind of agony fighting to breathe and then succumb despite the best sleepless days and nights we put in. May their souls rest in eternal peace. But till then remember…
ALUTA CONTINUA, THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES.
PLEASE KINDLY:
*MASK UP!
*OBSERVE HAND HYGINE!
*SOCIALISE WISELY!
