- Title: Amazon villagers take herbal tea to fight COVID-19
- Date: 16th June 2020
- Summary: AMAZON, PARA STATE, BRAZIL (JUNE 13, 2020) (REUTERS) (MUTE) AERIAL VIEW OF AMAZON AERIAL VIEW OF RIVER CUTTING THROUGH AMAZON AERIAL VIEW OF BOAT ON RIVER AMAZON, PARA STATE, BRAZIL (RECENT - JUNE 5, 2020) (REUTERS) FAMILY ARRIVING AT MAKESHIFT CLINIC THAT IS CHECKING LOCALS FOR CORONAVIRUS BOY GETTING HIS TEMPERATURE CHECKED GENERAL VIEW OF MAKESHIFT CLINIC MEDICS IN PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT WITH PATIENTS READER CHECKING MEDICAL STATISTICS OF PATIENT VARIOUS OF LOCAL WITH MEDIC (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) LOCAL, MARIA CLAUDIA, SAYING: "I'm scared to go to the hospital. There (in hospital) we have no chance, we're in the interior (of the country). We go out in search of natural resources (for herbal remedies). In the hospital we can't have our herbal teas." LOCAL AT MAKESHIFT CLINIC, MEDIC AT DESK WHERE MEDICINES ARE VARIOUS OF MEDIC WITH PACKS OF CHLOROQUINE AMAZON, PARA STATE, BRAZIL (JUNE 13, 2020) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) NURSE WHO IS PART OF MOBILE TEAM WORKING TO STOP COVID-19, MARILA COSTA, SAYING: "From our understanding, in the rural area (of the Amazon River), it is understood that the majority of Ribeirinhos (locals who live alongside the Amazon River) are taking herbal remedies in the belief that it has a strong effect (against coronavirus)." AERIAL VIEW OF LOCAL HOMES ALONG AMAZON RIVER REFLECTION OF TREES FROM THE AMAZON RIVER LOCAL, MARIA DE NAZARE SAJES, COLLECTING HERBS DE NAZARE SAJES WITH HERBS (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) LOCAL WHO HAD TESTED POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS, MARIA DE NAZARE SAJES, SAYING: "I made (a tea) and I drank it. I felt healthy, an alleviation (of COVID-19 symptoms). People would say, 'Mrs. Maria, you're better. I am. Wow, you had a fever yesterday, were in pain', I would say, 'I am much better for drinking this tea'." VARIOUS OF DE NAZARE SAJES WASHING HERBS FOR HER TEA VARIOUS OF DE NAZARE SAJES PREPARING TO MAKE TEA VARIOUS OF DE NAZARA SAJES DRINKING TEA (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) LOCAL WHO HAD TESTED POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS, MARIA DE NAZARE SAJES, SAYING: "My son went to the city of Portel and he said, 'Mum, they really want jambu (local herb) over there in Portel to prepare a tea for the disease (COVID-19)'. I have a lot here, I told him to offer it to people as I have a lot in my garden. I grow it and then went to make it." VARIOUS OF MEDICS CHECKING DE NAZARE (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) NURSE WHO IS PART OF MOBILE TEAM WORKING TO STOP COVID-19, MARILA COSTA, SAYING: "They (locals) don't refuse medicine. But they trust herbal medicine much more. In general they accept an anti-thermic for fever, they take it and use it together with herbal remedies." VARIOUS OF VIEW FROM BOAT ON AMAZON RIVER AMAZON RIVER AREA AT SUNDOWN
- Embargoed: 30th June 2020 23:44
- Keywords: Amazon Brazil Covid-19 coronavirus doctors medicine pandemic
- Location: AMAZON, PARA STATE, BRAZIL
- City: AMAZON, PARA STATE, BRAZIL
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001CIMF807
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Forget hydroxychloroquine. Try tea of jambu, also known as the toothache plant, that villagers in the eastern Amazon believe will help you keep new coronavirus at bay.
Maria de Nazare Sajes, 65, swears by the infusion of bitter leaves. She tested positive for COVID-19 and says she fought off the symptoms by taking the tea.
Her village on the banks of a tributary of the Amazon river was recently visited by public health workers to test inhabitants for the virus that is ravaging Brazil in the world's second worst outbreak after the United States.
U.S. regulators withdrew approval this week for the emergency use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients. It is still being prescribed in Brazil as scientists around the world are working to develop a vaccine and effective treatments.
In remote corners of the Amazon rainforest, where access to intensive care wards can require long boat rides to the nearest cities, prevention is paramount, and local inhabitants place their faith in traditional herbal medicines.
Marilia Costa, a nurse who has come to take temperatures and apply quick tests, says she has found resistance to taking hydroxychloroquine tabs prescribed by the Brazilian government for COVID-19 patients.
Jambu leaves are used in local dishes in Para state, but the plant is said to work as an anesthetic that helps relieve pain, besides a variety of properties from fighting viruses to uses as a laxative and even an aphrodisiac.
A common view shared on social media is that tea of jambu leave, with lemon and garlic, and a Paracetamol tab, cures people of COVID-19.
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