The Claim
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, in one of his recent speeches, 'advised' that massaging a cow can cure breathing problems and treat tuberculosis (TB).
The minister also claimed that cow is the only living being in the world that exhales oxygen.
Not too long ago, Sadhvi Pragya had also claimed that cow urine can help cure cancer.
Tuberculosis Is No Joke
TB is one of the leading causes of mortality in India. It kills more than 300,000 people in the country every year. And no, no amount of patting a cow can treat TB.
The National Health Portal of India defines tuberculosis as an infectious disease caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is spread through the air by a person suffering from TB, and it is estimated that a single patient can infect more than 10 people in a year. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the strongest risk factor for tuberculosis among adults. Tobacco use, malnutrition and alcoholism are other reasons that could contribute.
India reports the highest number of TB cases in the world. According to the World Health’s Organisation’s 2018 Global TB Report, “Diagnosis and successful treatment of people with TB averts millions of deaths each year (an estimated 54 million over the period 2000–2017), but there are still large and persistent gaps in detection and treatment.”
How You Can Actually Prevent TB
Some common symptoms of TB are cough for three weeks or more, fever, weight loss and loss of appetite.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests Directly Observed Treatment Short (DOTS) as the internationally recommended strategy for controlling TB. It comprises five components:
- Sustained political and financial commitments
- Diagnosis by quality ensured sputum-smear microscopy
- Standardized short-cause anti-TB treatment given under direct and supportive observation
- A regular, uninterrupted supply of high quality anti-TB drugs
- Standardized recording and reporting
The success rate of DOTS is 95 percent. TB is completely curable. The treatment can span up to six months. In cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (caused by strains of the TB bacteria resistant to the two most effective anti-tuberculosis drugs available- isoniazid and rifampicin), the treatment could take 18-24 months and is much more expensive.
So no, patting a cow is certainly not a cure for a serious condition like TB.
What About Oxygen?
No human or animal in the world exhales oxygen. Plants are the only beings that inhale carbon-dioxide and exhale oxygen. Science has established this time and again.
According to National Geographic, “Plants and animals each produce the gases that the other needs to live. Plants need carbon dioxide—people and other animals exhale carbon dioxide as a waste product. People and other animals need oxygen—plants produce oxygen during an important process called photosynthesis, which turns the sun’s energy into nutrients.”
Thus, proven, the minister’s claim is false.
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