Use of old measles cure bucked

SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union, Philippines   – Doctors are urging residents here to seek professional help once their children show symptoms of measles instead of resorting to a primitive way of curing the disease.

Hector Beñas and Eduardo Posadas, provincial and city health officers, respectively, called on mothers to take advantage of free vaccinations against measles and polio offered by the Department of Health.

“We do not have a scientific proof that they (measles-infected patients) were cured by these primitive remedies,” Beñas said. 

Gov. Manuel Ortega has ordered the launching of a free measles vaccinations as part of the provincial government’s Ligtas-Tigdas campaign.

Mothers are urged to immediately take their children to the rural health centers once they show symptoms of the infection, such as rashes and fever.

Most residents believe that feeding a patient with a hard-boiled egg yolk and rubbing grilled red shallots on his or her skin and face are the cure for measles.

The patient is swathed in blankets and prevented from taking a bath until the rashes are gone.

“It is a dangerous method. The patient may suffer from infection, measles include fever with coughs and colds,”  adding that the traditional cure may lead to respiratory illnesses if not checked by doctors.