In fact, they go on to say, the juice may be more harmful to the patient than helpful.
Claim
Several online publications and social media users have connected drinking papaya leaf juice with treating dengue illness.
On August 10, the YouTube channel Hareem’s Kitchen Menu published a video that has now gained over 300,000 views. According to the video, papaya leaf juice can be used at home to treat dengue infection.
On September 15, an article was published on the well-known Pakistani health website Marham, claiming that the leaf can treat viral illnesses spread by mosquitoes.
The report claims that although dengue infection significantly lowers blood platelet count, papaya leaf extracts are known to help increase it.
FACT
To verify the accuracy of the claim, Fact Check spoke with a number of medical professionals.
There is no “reliable scientific proof to prove,” according to Dr. Faisal Sultan, an infectious diseases specialist and the CEO of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital in Lahore, that papaya leaf juice may treat dengue.
Ascribing a platelet improvement to papaya is erroneous, he continued, as platelets typically improve over time.
Dr. Sultan received web links from Geo Fact Check to research studies that claim the juice is effective in treating dengue. According to Dr. Sultan, the studies in those journals dealt with basic science, thus he won’t comment on them.
According to randomised controlled studies, “the short version is that there is not enough scientific evidence to justify the use of papaya [leaves] juice to treat dengue,” he added in a statement to Geo Fact Check.
Dr. Naseem Salahuddin, director of the infectious diseases division at Karachi’s Indus Hospital, concurred with Dr. Sultan.
She pleaded the callers not to consume the juice during dengue, according to a statement she sent to Fact Check. It has no advantage and makes people throw up.
Since 2004, Dr. Salahuddin has been treating dengue patients. “In dengue, simply provide as much liquids as possible, and it will cure [dengue],” she continued.
