Thursday, October 2, 2014

Texas Ebola Epidemic -- and a Cure from China!

Ahoy from Amoy!

The Texas Ebola Outbreak may be more serious than the media lets on for several reasons.

1. The man was sick when he went to the hospital, but was sent home, and only admitted 2 days later, so everyone he came in contact with (including children, it has been revealed) could have possible been infected. One wonders why the U.S. does not track or even quarantine people flying in from Africa (maybe too many people?).

2. The man threw up right outside his home, and someone must have cleaned it up. They're infected.

3. It is said Ebola is only spread through contact with bodily fluids. If that is the case, how did the 3 American doctors catch it? How did the nurse in Spain catch it? I can see how untrained medical personnel in Sierra Leone catch Ebola, but these were professionals, and extremely careful. If wearing what amounts to spacesuits and engaging in chemical baths isn't enough protection, who is to say that Ebola is only contagious through bodily fluids? It might be that some of those bodily fluids need only be droplets from a sneeze, or....

The media has recently said that the world can rest because Nigeria has conquered Ebola. If Nigeria has conquered Ebola, how did a man with Ebola leave the country and fly to Texas (and infected perhaps as many as 50 people).

But there is hope, because some Chinese claim to have a cure for Ebola!

Ebola in Hong Kong -- but Mainland China? (埃博拉在中国)
There has not been any English media reporting about Ebola in China, but a Chinese website revealed a case of Ebola in Hong Kong back in August 10, 2014. Given the crowded conditions there--and the fact that there are probably far more Chinese in Africa than Americans, given China's massive investments in Africa, it is very likely that Ebola is in China, even as it is in Texas. In fact, Ebola has been here before, it seems. The deadly pig-borne epidemic, which had a 72% to 82% death rate, was unrelated to the present epidemic, but it was supposedly a form of Ebola.

But Chinese media claim to this day that there are no cases of Ebola in China, and that China has contained Ebola successfully.  Who knows. Personally, I don't blame them for trying to keep people calm. Besides, China has many cures for Ebola (even as People Daily claimed in 1990 that they had Chinese herbal cures for AIDS , though I've not heard any verification of this since).

Chinese Cures for Ebola ?
Chinese netizens evidently are worried because they are promoting various cures for Ebola. One popular cure is coffee with garlic.  This actually makes sense. Coffee breath is bad enough, but garlic coffee breath? People will stay so far away from each other that Ebola will fizzle right out.

All jesting aside, though--Chinese medicines may well offer some hope, as they tend to emphasize strengthening the body's own immune system, allowing the body to naturally fight off disease (as opposed to Western medicines, which are often toxins designed to kill specific pathogens without regard to the fact that they often harm the body's natural immune system as well).

Some Chinese herbs that offer hope include red peony root, buffalo horn (to replace rhino horn, thankfully, though I think they're buffaloing us), rehmannia root, folium isatadis, Dr. Who's Tardis (just seeing if you're paying attention). After all, the current Ebola cures, with the exception of the serums from survivors blood, seem to be a cocktail of experimental drugs and careful treatment of the symptoms, trying to keep the survivors alive long enough for their bodies to fight off the disease.

Well--here's hoping there is not an Ebola epidemic in the United States--or an Ebola epidemic in China! (though rumors have it a Chinese village has been quarantined because of Ebola). But if Nigeria, which in July said they were at their wits end, can have coped with it, I think the Americans and Chinese will too. Hopefully!

Dr. Bill


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Bill Brown
Xiamen University
www.amoymagic.com

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