This article from AFP reports on Siam weed being touted as a cure for HIV in the 'local media'. What media are reporting on it?
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Desperate HIV sufferers in Myanmar turn to weeds for cure
AFP
1 September 2006
YANGON : Aung Naing, a doctor of traditional medicine in Myanmar, believes in the healing power of herbs, but even he is worried about claims being made in the media about a common weed in the military-run nation.
Easily available on sidewalks in the capital Yangon, the flowering Siam weed has been widely reported in local media as a cure for HIV -- a tempting claim in one of the world's poorest countries where few can afford expensive life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs.
"What I have learned from one HIV-infected person was that she recovered by using this herb," reads a typical dispatch in the Yangon Times weekly.
"It can be taken twice daily. Even in seriously ill people, it can show results after two weeks. The virus decreases. If they continue taking it, the effect will be greater. The person who is taking this herb is still alive," the story said.
But 58-year-old Aung Naing, who has been interested in traditional medicine since high school, worries that people are clinging to a false hope and may not take HIV seriously if they believe it can so easily be cured.
"If the media exaggerates without any official research, it could be bad for the people," he says. "It will be dangerous if people do not pay attention to this epidemic because of this herb."
The weed is a kind of herb known in Latin as Eupatorium Odoratum. A spoonful of juice squeezed from the plant that people in Myanmar call "bi sat" is believed not only to cure HIV, but cancer too.
Although Aung Naing urges caution in the seemingly miraculous powers of Siam weed, he remains a great believer in the power of nature, and urges more research.
"These herbs seem not to have much toxicity. People can test it, it's cheap. and easily available on sidewalks. I don't want to object to it, but I also cannot guarantee it," he says, adding that traditionally, Siam weed was used to treat muscles aches and fever.
Myanmar, formally known as Burma, was once one of the richest and most promising nations in Southeast Asia. But more than five decades of military rule have left the country impoverished and isolated.
According to official figures from Myanmar's Health Ministry, about 338,000 people in the country of 47 million are infected with HIV, with some 30,000 receiving anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment supplied by the government.
However the United Nations says that Myanmar suffers one of the worst AIDS epidemics in Asia, with up to two percent of adults, or 550,000 people, living with HIV.
The monthly cost for the ARV medicine -- about 50,000 kyats (45 US dollars) -- is not affordable for most infected people in this impoverished country, and many have to rely on traditional medicine.
Than Htut, deputy director of Myanmar's occupational health division, says that the government would never sanction the use of an untested medicine like Siam weed.
"There might be some exceptional and individual success cases in curing HIV with traditional medicine," he says. "But the ministry never accepts the individual blind evidence and never gives permission for producing HIV medicine."
Medical doctors also warn against giving to much attention to an unproven, potentially dangerous drug.
"I do not want to comment or say it is not good, but we need time to know the exact effectiveness of this herb," a medical doctor who does not wish to be named tells AFP.
"The media should not highlight it, because our traditional medicine has not had much scientific research. It is so early," he says.
As for people living with HIV, any offer of hope for a better life is treated with cautious optimism.
"Some say it encourages and improves the body's resistance. I believe if we take care of our behaviour, our resistance will go up," a 46-year-old HIV sufferer, who has been on ARVs for two years, tells AFP.
"But if the information is wrong, the situation could be worse ... For me, I will try and stay healthy under the instruction of my medical doctor."
Traditional doctors are not making any promises about curing the HIV epidemic.
"I just instruct my patients to go to the health department if they have a positive result from a blood test," Aung Naing says.
"But if they want to rely on traditional medicine, I prepare some medicine for them to improve their body's resistance. I never guarantee it.
"They are like people who are drowning. They want to grab a reed in the water." - AFP /dt
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/health/view/228001/1/.html
