THE EDITOR: The Ministry of Health says Trinidad and Tobago has so far recorded 392 confirmed cases of dengue fever, with four lab-confirmed deaths.
According to the WHO website, dengue is a viral infection transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes. It says between 100 million and 400 million people are infected every year.
Unfortunately, the website also indicates there is no specific treatment for the infection and the focus is on treating pain symptoms. It appears that drug companies have yet to develop any drugs that will reliably kill the dengue virus.
Towards identifying an effective antiviral agent, it has long been established that all diseases, including viral infections, trigger massive production of free radicals in the afflicted. These free radicals are generally what cause illness and can lead to cellular injury, organ failure and death.
Therefore, the neutralisation of excessive and damaging free radicals should be a primary treatment option.
An antioxidant is a substance that can neutralise free radicals. Vitamin C is a powerful naturally-occurring antioxidant that has anti-inflammatory properties and plays a critical role in the repair of tissue damaged by free radicals. Vitamin C is also able to destroy the invading organisms such as viruses and bacteria and recent study has clearly established the mechanism by which this action occurs.
Finally, vitamin C is extremely important in the effective operation of the immune system, particularly during infection. Immune cells have vitamin C transporter molecules that pump vitamin C into the cells during times of infection, up to 100 times the level in the blood.
This is why vitamin C levels in the blood fall in sick patients and hence the need to increase intake of this vitamin during illness. The increased levels of this vitamin in immune cells enhances their overall response to infection.
In a 2024 study published in the journal of Cardiovascular Disease Research (see https://www.jcdronline.org/admin/Uploads/Files/65a225c9bfa346.47444298.pdf) researchers did a randomised controlled trial involving three groups of 200 people suffering from dengue fever and low platelet count.
The results showed that vitamin C increased platelet count by 35 per cent in five days while a placebo increased it by only nine per cent over the same period. The paper also showed that vitamin E had positive results.
Researchers used 200mg of vitamin C each day in their trial, which is a relatively low dosage. A dosage of 1000mg each day is what many individuals use in their daily lives, and I expect even better results with this increased dosage.
Researchers concluded that vitamin C (and vitamin E) “demonstrated the capacity to enhance platelet counts, expedite recovery, and reduce bleeding complications without a significant increase in adverse events.”
In view of the illness and death being caused by dengue and other viral infections in TT and because, according to the WHO, there is no specific treatment for dengue available, I sugg
