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Monday, September 8, 2008

My Awful story

Coming to the disease causation, it's clear that anybody with sound defense seldom falls ill.

Here's my own story. In 1976, my family was down with typhoid fever. Out of 11 members, only two, my big brother and little sister were exempt. They were all along with us, sharing the same food and household. How come ?

From my native village I moved to Kolkata ( Calcutta ) in 1977 for higher studies. There I caught malaria for the first time in my life. I received chloroquine in appropriate doses from a qualified medical personnel. This drug left me afebrile ( without fever ) and exhausted too. After A few weeks malaria relapsed and I had another course of chloroquine with similar result.




This cycle went on for 3 to 4 episodes. My physician then prescribed me primaquine to eliminate the parasites from my liver. This drug kept me free from malaria for a few months, but alas, for a few months only.


A few weeks before my medical entrance examination I was down with malaria again, and a course of that damned chloroquine also. This time fever would come every alternate day around 12-00 pm with chill, thirst, restlessness and fear of death. Paracetamol helped me take the exam.




After my exam was over, my big brother, an aminent professor of English literature and a loyal follower of homeopathy too, gave me a single dose of Arsenic 1000 on my fever free day. Surprising, fever came on that very day, at 5-00 in the evening, instead of at 12-00 pm and stayed for a much shorter period. That was the last spell of malaria fever in my life.......

.. in spite of living in very much malaria prone areas of Calcutta at different times. This reminds me the funny story of that old man whose garden fence had a breach and cattle would come in through that broken wall. The old man usd to cry for help and someone from his neighbours would rush in  and shoo the cattle out. This continued for quite a long time until a kind and wise man repaired the wall for him. thereafter no cattle could tresspass and the old man got his peace back.

Doctors call for antibiotics to treat our disease. Antibiotics shoo the bacteria away and make us well, but alas! For the time being only. They cannot repair our 'broken wall'.
Our deficiency in defense remains the same or even worsens. Only vaccins can strengthen our defense, but they have not been developed for every agent causing disease, and it seems impractical to vaccinate a persom against thousands of bacteria, viruses, parasites and other non-organic disease agents.
What is thr way out, then ?Dealing with thousands of helpless patients, who are even too poor to afford for the newer and costly antibiotics, this question haunts me, makes me ponder and ponder.
You too ponder for some time until I'm back with the next post.

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