The following is not meant to be a piece of expert opinion, but some wild thoughts of an individual (myself) on the ongoing alarm caused by bird flu.
Someone give me an answer, please. In a bird flu season, what can we do if we don't have the luck to get the Tamiflu drug? Can we instead have more meals cooked with Star Aniseeds, the drug's main material?
We have all heard about Tamiflu, reportedly the only major anti-bird flu drug that is available on Earth. As individuals in rich countries, and in rich cities of developing countries, are stockpiling the drug in their homes, we are told that the world simply does not have the capability to manufacture enough of it in a short time.
Implicitly, those who cannot get hold of Tamiflu, either because they cannot afford it or because they are unlucky while waiting for the supply, just have to die, or at least run a greater risk of losing their lives.
According to various sources, a full scale pandemic could cost China and Southeast Asia 4.5 million deaths and as much as US$150 billion to US$200 billion.
Every day, people are reading about the disease spreading to Europe, and talking about it spreading to Africa, where lives are the least protected. And there is a chance that the virus could mutate, take some new shapes and properties, and become even more threatening.
But few people have heard of Star Anise, or Star Aniseeds, which Chinese call "bajiao," or Eight-Angled Seeds, and traditionally use as a spice in oriental cooking. The chief ingredient of Tamiflu, called Shikimic Acid, is extracted from Star Aniseeds through a process patented by Roche Holding AG, the Swiss pharmaceutical company.
Last night, on Google's English news search, I got only 123 results for "aniseed; flu" as against 45,700 results for "bird flu." That, as a proportion, is a meagre 0.2 per cent.
The comparison speaks for itself. Obviously, the global press has far greater enthusiasm for spreading fear than useful information. And by spreading fear, the press is in effect helping pharmaceutical companies, global and local, generate the ever-growing demand for their products.
I didn't get to know the crucial role of Star Aniseeds until I stumbled on a report about a Taiwan health official declaring the island had developed its own Tamiflu equivalent, and had succeeded in only six months to achieve what Roche had achieved in 12 years. How many consumers would seriously consider buying a modern medicine developed in only six months? I wondered.
But the story does not end just there. Taiwan is not the only place to ignore the Roche patent, it seems. According to the Indian Express, Cipla, an Indian drug maker, recently also claimed to be nearly ready to launch its own version of Tamiflu, after already securing the material supply from China.
What intrigues me even more is that Star Aniseeds were not just a stock in the old-style Chinese kitchen. The star-shaped dark brown little fruits were also used as a medical herb to cure infection and aches, for at least six centuries.
If, as one may interpret the claims from Taiwan and India, something can be done in such a short time to turn the raw Star Aniseeds into a modern commodity, its process might not be utterly complicated. And if, as one can derive from the economic logic, pharmaceutical companies are all chasing their own monopolies, they must not like the idea of anyone curing a disease by using a natural resource directly, as the ancient medicine men would have suggested.
But since it has been known for such a long time that the raw Star Aniseeds have a curing effect, and that any short, if not hasty, attempts to make modern medicines would involve untold hazards, a safer way to use them might just be to use them without the industrial process, as a herb or as a spice.
However, what a pity that today there is not a single modern scientist to tell us whether this is doable - when many Chinese, having got the information that I got, are doing it anyway.
If it is doable, having a daily pot of stewed chicken (but never a sick one) spiced with Star Aniseeds would be a much tastier, and more affordable alternative for a developing society.
And any country can import some seeds of the plant, or order some shipments of the dried fruits from China. They will never cost a king's ransom.
From ChinaDaily.com.cn
I'm not sure if thinking your way would make much of a sense as this avian flu is a dangerous thing and quick action need to be taken once one gets affected. If you can't get tamiflu you may always go for some alternatives. I read here http://www.drugdelivery.ca/bird-flu.aspx that amantadine and relenza are two effective alternatives to tamiflu.
[quote:e0ec8beaa3="Chang"]I'm not sure if thinking your way would make much of a sense as this avian flu is a dangerous thing and quick action need to be taken once one gets affected. If you can't get tamiflu you may always go for some alternatives. I read here http://www.drugdelivery.ca/bird-flu.aspx that amantadine and relenza are two effective alternatives to tamiflu.[/quote:e0ec8beaa3]
Really?
"Someone give me an answer, please. In a bird flu season, what can we do if we don't have the luck to get the Tamiflu drug? Can we instead have more meals cooked with Star Aniseeds, the drug's main material? "
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bird-flu/DS00566/DSECTION=1&
As I understand it H5N1 (Bird Flu or HPAI = Highly pathogenic Avian Influenza) falls under the headding of warm disease theory, from the Wen Bing Xue. It is a True hot pestelential evil that really does not even attack at the Wei Qi level. It attacks the Blood level. S&S begin at the Shao Yang Re Zheng level, and progress very quickly from there. One is infected and can display no S&S for up to four days / 1 week thereby spreadding it to others unknowingly. (http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/353/13/1374#T1 ) By the time you have S&S Tamiflu and Relenza are not very effective. I think this can be looked at from a preventative point of view, however. You Ping Feng San and Samboucol (download article here http://pdfserver.prweb.com/pdfdownload/335082/pr.pdf )work well to consolidate the Wei Qi and prevent initial infection. However, once infected what is so dangerous is the Cytokine Cascade, Cytokine Storm.
The systemic symptoms of seasonal flu are caused by cytokine release, which are part of the human immune response. Cytokines are proteins, produced primarily by white blood cells. They provide signal to regulate immunological aspects of cell growth and function during both inflammation and specific immune response. Some cytokines can travel to distant sites through the blood stream and affect other organs, particularly the nervous system, where they can reset the body’s thermostat to cause a fever, or to the liver, where they cause the synthesis of substances used in fighting infection (such as ‘complement’). One of the many possible effects of cytokines is to summon other immune cells to the site of microbial attack and to activate those cells so that they, too, elaborate cytokines which in turn summon still more cells. This is a positive feedback loop and is ordinarily damped down by other cytokines signaling still other cells to elaborate still more cytokines that put the brakes on the process. In an H5N1 infection this process malfunctions and the brakes are never applied. In simple terms, in a “cytokine storm” there is an overabundance of cytokine production, which in turn produces more and more inflammation. The term “cytokine storm” is a common designation for the technical term hypercytokinemia sometimes spelled hypercytokinaemia. From a clinical perspective, a cytokine storm describes an immune system that has over-reacted and is damaging the body, causing massive uncontrolable internal inflamation, pulmonary hemorage, acute respiratory distress, multi organ infection, hemorage and failure. ie reckless movement of Hot blood. Cytokine storms can happen rapidly and patients who suffer them have high mortality. H5N1 moves quickly. Many studies / cases are showing initial onset of S&S to death in as little as 7 to 10 days. It strikes the young and healthy and thoes whos immune systems are strong.
I the last months H5N1 has spread through China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Turkey, Iraq and now Nigeria. All along the way it has mutated and has increased it's ability to spread more effectivly from H2H. Media is downplaying the severity, cases are going largely unreported in Iraq and Africa and Turkey. There is no vacine that can be made quickly enough to vaccinate millions of people. It is spreading along migratory bird routes and mixing with other Avian influenza sub types that spread easily from H2H, and it's doing it fast. IMHO the TCM community needs to take a serious look at this. Western medicine has very little to battle H5N1. Local and national athorities are telling the public that they will not be able to handle a pandemic and that we are largely "on our own". I would love more discussion on this topic. I believe TCM can really make a difference and I believe the Wen Bing Xue holds real answers.
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