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Zambia: Using Hydrozon for HIV Treatment
A ZAMBIAN organisation involved in medical research based in Lusaka has, for about 28 years now, been administering a natural herbal remedy called Hydrozon (HZN) to treat various ailments, including on people living with HIV.
According to executive director of SMERO Clinic (Scientific Medical Research Organisation) Abel Munyansu, the search for the "wonder drug" started way back in 1987 and it was not until February 1995 that the search for the herbal medicine was finally over as the right ingredients were discovered.
"People who tested HIV positive as far back and 1997 and took HZN are still alive today and living very healthy lives. These people are not on ARVs.
They have lived all this long because HZN is able to stop the multiplication of the virus in the body and keep it at bay," Dr Munyansu said in an interview in Lusaka recently.
He says the drug, which is in capsule form, can be taken by anyone whether children, adults and even those that are not ill.
He, however, refuses to say the drug is a cure as doing so is unscientific and apart from that, it becomes a political issue when anyone declares a drug a cure.
He adds that HZN is taken just for five or 10 days except for very serious advanced cases of cancer where the patient can take the medication for 20 days. He says the drug when taken, will inhibit the multiplication of the virus in the body.
"The virus in the person living with HIV will be arrested and will not do what it is supposed to do and a person can live a healthier life for as long as it takes. HZN will help the body to produce appropriate antibodies to counteract the virus."
He says those on ART and battling the side effects of toxicity can also take the drug to clear the side effects.
The drug was initially developed for HIV but with the advent of other killer diseases, it was improved further to cater for many other ailments.
It can assist in treating, among others, hepatitis B, kidney failure, heart failure, liver problems, cryptococal meningitis, cervical cancer, fungal infections, STIs, fungal infections, sickle cell anaemia, drug resistance, breast cancer, etc. It also works well on those that develop TB relapses.
HZN employs biological means to assist the body to regenerate itself, thereby developing the strength to respond favourably to food supplements and medications. In cases where surgery has been necessary, HZN is a powerful post-operative tool to assist the body to heal itself.
Dr Munyansu says HZN is non toxic - this is according to the analytical report from the Ministry of Health and the Food and Drug Control Laboratory (Zambia) that there were no toxic or glycosides or alkaloids detected in it.
He says on people living with HIV, there are those who have just tested positive, those who would like to take the drug side by side with ARVs and those who feel they have taken too much of ARVs. He says the HZN covers all the three categories.
He says his clinic is ready to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Government on how best to assist people living with HIV and others with other illnesses but not a situation where the Government wants to dominate the whole agreement.
"HZN is a fully Zambian product meant to assist us Zambians. But it's unfortunate that we, Zambians, do not want to appreciate anything that is Zambian. If such drugs are produced overseas, then they will easily be accepted in Zambia. The Government should have a clear-cut policy on ensuring that locally-developed herbal remedies are given a chance," he says.
SMERO Clinic is situated behind Lumumba station at the City Church complex and can be contacted on 0977/0955/0966 797938.
Dr Munyansu also gave me a number of corrections on the usage of the words HIV and AIDS. He says to many, they see these two different words as meaning one and the same thing and it is unfortunate that even some medical personnel continue to use the two wrongly.
The following are some of the possible points of correction to those who still have room to learn or to be corrected:
- HIV is infectious while AIDS is not. Therefore, one can get an HIV infection but no one can ever get an AIDS infection, as there is nothing of that sort.
- HIV infection can be spread, while AIDS cannot be spread. Therefore, we can intelligently talk of the spread of HIV, although there is nothing like the spread of AIDS, it just does not exist.
- We can have a zero (new) HIV infection today, if we work hard enough, but a zero (new) AIDS cases is a matter of 20 years from now on the average. This is so because we are behind schedule as HIV is about 20 years ahead of AIDS. Since those who get infected today maybe patients in the next 10 to 20 years from now on the average going by the HIV and AIDS science.
- HIV infection does not kill, though AIDS does kill. Nobody dies because they are HIV positive - this is the more reason why we talk about people living with HIV. The sad fact is that people die of AIDS.
- HIV is preventable while AIDS is managed. There are a number of interventions that are employed in the prevention of HIV infections and as for AIDS there are also a wide range of medicaments for its management.
- Not everyone living with HIV will develop AIDS and not everyone living with HIV will die of AIDS. Even when a person living with HIV dies from an illness like malaria, it is too much to conclude that it is because he or she is HIV positive.
Some people living with HIV may die even before they develop AIDS, when their CD4 count is still very high just like other people who die from the same ailments even when they are not living with HIV.
Thanks to Dr Munyansu for the above tips which I am sure will help many people understand the difference between HIV and AIDS.
For comments or if you have anything that you feel can be shared in as far as HIV and AIDS are concerned, do not hesitate to write to knoxngoma@gmail.com or call/SMS +260977883129.
NB: Please note that my usual 0955883143 number is currently temporarily out of service. I will, however, display it again as soon as it is back in use.
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Source: Times of Zambia