EBOLA VIRUS is still at the centre stage of public thought. How I wish it will rapidly give way to loftier discussions. I say this because, like the spoken word, thoughts have a magnetic force. There is nothing that comes into being through us that we did not originate in the thought. If you are in a bus and you think intensely about the passenger some seats ahead of yours, he or she is likely to be connected to you by your thought, and look back in the direction of this thought… to you. Often, we suddenly remember some-one we hadn’t seen in a long, long while, and, the next day or soon after, that person walks in or telephones us, and says had been trying to reach us! Sometimes, we are trying to telephone someone at the same time that person is trying to reach us. Nature informs us through these events that thoughts are living forces which Nature beings, like porters, fashion into appropriate thought forms. These forms are seeds attached to their authors who must reap bountiful harvests of them someday. There was a time in Lagos the uniform of the traffic police was changed to yellow colour. Many people nicknamed these traffic men yellow fever. And, sure enough, soon after, a new epidemic of yellow fever disease broke out! In this respect, the genuine efforts to find a way out of the present Ebola virus jungle should be well helped if frivolous talk and jokes about Ebola virus are stopped, to give way to thoughts emanating from serious efforts.
Last Friday, I gave a talk on these matters at International Transport Workers Federation (ITWF) cancer screening and Ebola virus fever seminar which took place at the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) State Office Abule-Egba. The talk was more of a review of the first part of this series published in this newspaper the previous day.
Fear
Ebola virus fear continues to envelope Lagos in a thick pall. And fear, deriving from thought, can manifest in the thought-form of that which is feared. Someday, this thought from may, in turn, materialise in the physical form of the thought-form, in this case, Ebola virus fever epidemic. To avert an epidemic, the government of Lagos State has asked the Federal Government to close the boarders. But the Federal Government is hesitant because closing the boarders may suffocate the economy and cause serious social problems. This is not a time to do nothing. A middle-ground can be found. That middle ground may involve blood screening for all immigrants from all regions of the world where this disease has occurred in epidemic or pandemic proportions. The government should investigate how the Liberian who brought Ebola virus to Nigeria beat immigration officers to it. They should have known he was a Liberian and stopped him. It for Ebola screening is because we do not investigate well enough and punish culprits that corruption thrives in Nigeria and lives are endangered. Who knows, this Liberian may have tossed $100 at someone to get in. Wasn’t this how guns, military guns, got into this country and we now have Boko Haram on our hands? Let us not forget, also, that fireworks were banned in Nigeria in 1962 during the Western Nigeria crisis, but are still “heavenly” imported into Nigeria every year; And, irrespective of police reminders of the ban every Christmas season, fireworks enliven the Christmas season, our even inside police barracks! This shows we are an irresponsible people and need a responsible government to make us mature and behave well.
Bubonic Plague
We are probably irresponsible and misbehaving because we are not well taught the history of the suffering of other people who had been killed in their millions by diseases similar to Ebola virus fever. Personally, I do not wish that we experience the human holocausts they went through for our eyes to open wide. That was why, last week, I promised to include in this series a disease, bubonic plague similar in its devastation of human lives as Ebola virus.
Last week, I hinted that when it struck England in 1348, it killed 1.7 million of the 4 million residents of London.
Garlic
Last week, I suggested the consumption of garlic with every meal as a way of boasting the immune system, which god has placed in our bodies to destroy any germ or parasite, including Ebola virus, which may seek to destroy it. I also mentioned bitter kola. Dr. Robert Young, and American researcher and author of the book pH Miracle, says Ebola virus has been inhibited in cell cultures in which non-toxin doses of Garcinia kola (Bitter kola) were used against it. He suggests as well massive doses of Vitamin C to neutralise the free radicals Ebola virus attacks the body with. Many doctors continue to emphasise the washing of hands with soap and bleach without reference to the immune system. Understandably, drugs cannot boost immunity, and doctors have little or no training in nutrition or hebalism, which offers natural ways of maintaining and boosting this design of God in our bodies. It is also for this reason that I wish to present an account of the four prisoners who survived the Bubonic Plague which must have killed more than about 200 million people in Europe and Asia in epidemics and pandemics. Thereafter, I will present accounts of this human travail world-wide to warn that the conditions for it are present here, and we should take immediate steps to educate ourselves more about the immune system and change our present diet to God’s Creation Plan for feeding our bodies, as Dr. George Malkhmus did so to survive his stomach cancer.
The four prisoners
Known as “the four thieves and their herbs” on goggle, an account of their story by Daves Garden is this:
“The Plague was known as The Great Pestilence” or “The Great Plague”. Later it was called the “Black Death Plague” and compared to the “Asian Bubonic Plague”, the variation of the stories vary in time from the mid-13th century to the 16th Century and location from Italy, France and England. It is true the plague resurfaced over and over again during those many years, so any time frame may also be true.” The story I first heard many years ago was that the local magistrates needed men to haul away the rapidly accumulating dead bodies. It happened there were four thieves in prison who had been arrested for stealing from the homes of the dead, and they were conscripted to haul the bodies. One of the thieves had a mother who was a herbalist, she made an herbal vinegar the men used on a fabric handkerchief over their mouths and noses while they robbed the dead. She supplied more of the same as the thieves took on their assigned tasks. The men survived carting away dead and decaying bodies without catching the plague, and the magistrates took note. The magistrate offered them a deal. The thieves could have been hung for their crimes, or divulge their secret and go free. They gave up the recipe. The tales continue to say that many others used the herbal vinegar and survived.
“The recipe ingredients vary from tale to talk, but with todays’ science we know that most of the herbals reportedly used are antifungal and antiseptic. I know from personal experience that the four thieves recipe I use make a fine insect repellant, and I make a new patch to every spring to use on me and my pets. The recipe is for an insect repellant, and not to be taken internally as some of the recipe variations suggest. The recipe contains Rosemary, Rue or Herb of Grace, Garden Sage, Lavender, Wormwood and peppermint steeped in a base of raw, unpasteurised, fermented apple, cider vinegar with added fresh garlic after the initial brewing.
“Various other recipe include the addition of Thyme. Lemon Balm, Meadows sweet, Marjoram and Jumper berries”. Almost all the recipe I use contain the ingredient I use plus other additions, but I stick with the ingredients common in most recipes”.
All the herbs named by Daves Garden are used orally in natural medicine as shown, for example, by ANNE ARNOTT in her book, FRUITS OF THE EARTH, which says of Garlic:
“Garlic is mentioned in Number 11 as being one of the vegetables which children of Israel greatly missed when they were traveling through the wilderness to the Promised Land. They had learned of its very great value when they were slaves in Egypt. Garlic was felt by the ancient Egyptians to give them strength and vitality and stamina, and was given daily to their slaves who were constructing the pyramids. In fact, it is said that the first strike known in history occurred when the slaves downed tools because their daily garlic ration was witheld while they were building the Pyramid Cheops. Garlic has been proved to be one of the most antiseptic of all herbs. It is thought to be useful in almost every physical ailment, and is a wholesome regular addition to food. Dr. Herbert Schweitzer is said to have used garlic to help cure the dreaded disease of Cholera and typhus (typhoid). Lips cancers are said to have been cured by its use. Asthma sufferers have greatly benefitted from its use. Tuberculosis patients were greatly helped by it before the use of modern drugs. It has been a proven help in many cases of high blood pressure. This is because the herb is found to open up the blood vessels reducing pressure. It has stopped angina pains and dizziness.
“One of the most interesting recent discoveries about garlic was recorded in The Lancet in 1973, where its excellent effect in helping to prevent atherosclerosis, and reducing cholesterol levels in the blood was described.
“Many people in this country hesitate to use garlic, except in great moderation in cookery, because of its almost overpowering smell and taste. But in 1920, a German doctor, J.A Hofels, came to live in England. He had made an extensive study of garlic and knew of what a wonderful food and medicine it was. He found a way to encapsulate the vital garlic oil, containing the most active part of the herb and all its essential oils in capsules known as garlic perles”.
TODAY, KYOLIC GARLIC and KWAI garlic are among the most sought after brands worldwide.
Kyolic is aged for about 16 months and its extracts are said by researchers to be about 50 times more potent than natural garlic.
ON THE INTERNET J.B Bardot report: “In the 17th century, grave diggers in Europe drack wine containing crushed garlic or ate fresh garlic in an effort to ward off plague. The amazing disease-fighting have repeated tested true in thousands of studies. Garlic possesses potent, natural antibiotic and anti-microbial properties able to protect against plague. Garlic is also high in antioxidants that destroy free radicals, supporting a strong immune system. The active ingredient in garlic, allicen, contains antibacterial, antifungal and anti-viral properties known to kill numerous disease causing bacteria. Because garlic has such immune-building properties, regular supplementation acts prophylactically, preventing bubonic plague from taking hold.”
The Plague
I promised to provide information on the deadliness of Bubonic Plague, which kills devastatingly like an ebola fever epidemic, the following report fulfill that promise:
The first recorded appearance of the plague in Europe was at Messina, Sicily, in October of 1347. It arrived on trading ships that very likely came from the Black Sea, past Constantinople and through the Mediterranean. This was a fairly standard trade route that brought to European customers such items as silks and porcelain, which were carried overland to the Black Sea from as far away as China.
“As soon as the citizens of Messina realized what horrible sickness had come abroad these ships, they expelled them from the port—but it was too late. Plague quickly raged through the city, and panicking victims fled, thus spreading it to the surrounding countryside. While Sicily was succumbing to the horrors of the disease, the expelled trading ships brought it to other areas around the Mediterranean, infecting the neighboring Island of Corsica and Sardinia by November.
“Meanwhile, plague had travelled from Sarai to the Genoese trading station of Tana, east of the Black Sea. Here Christian merchants were attacked by Tartars and chased to their fortress at Kaffa (Caffa). The Tartarts besieged the city in November, but their siege was cut short when the Black Death struck. Before breaking off their attack, however, they catapulted dead plague victims into the city in the hopes of infecting its residents.
The defenders tried to divert the pestilence by throwing the bodies into the sea, but once a walled city had been struck by plague. Its doom was sealed. As the inhabitants of Kaffa began to fall to the disease, the merchants boarded ships to sail home. But they could not escape the plague. When they arrived in Genoa and Venice in January of 1348, a few passengers or sailors were left alive to tell the tale.
But few plague victims were all that was required to bring the deadly illness to mainland Europe.
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaking in Europe in the years 1346-53. Although there were several competing theories as to the etiology of the Black Death, analysis of DNA from victims in northen and southern Europe published in 2010 and 2011 indicated that the pathogen responsible was the Yersinia pestisbacterium, probably causing several forms of plague.
Consequences
Death toll
There are no exact figures for the death toll; the rate varied widely by locality. It killed some 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia. According to medieval historian Philip Daileader in 2007: The trend of recent research is pointing to a figure more like 45-50 percent of the European population dying during a four-year period. There is a fair amount of geographic variation. In Mediterranean Europe, areas such as Italy, the south of France and Spain, where plague ran for about four years consecutively, it was probably closer to 75 – 80 percent of the population. In Germany and England… it was probably closer to 20percent.
The most widely accepted estimate for the Middle East, including Iraq, Iran and Syria, during this time, is for a death rate of about a third. The Black Death killed about 40 percent of Egypt’s population. Half of Paris’s population of 100,000 people died. In Italy, Florence’s population was reduced from 110-120 thousand inhabitants in 1338 down to 50,000 in 1351. At least 60 percent of Hamburg’s and Bremen’s population perished, and a similar percentage of Londoners may have died from the disease as well. Before 1350, there were about 170,000 settlements in Germany, and this was reduced by nearly 40,000 by 1450. In 1348, the plague spread so rapidly that before any physicians or government authorities had time to reflect upon its origins, about a third of the European population had already perished. In crowded cities, it was not uncommon for as much as 50 percent of the population to die. This disease bypassed some areas, and the most isolated areas were less vulnerable to contagion. Monks and priests were especially hard hit since they cared for the Death’s victims.
Is the Health Minister listening? Is President Jonathan listening? Ebola virus is nothing to drag the foot over, or play politics with. If the boarders are not to be closed, serious screening has to be done. In Lagos, the federal or state government can pick the bill of the hospital shut on account of the Ebola virus fever death there. This will naturally include rent, salaries and income of the proprietors. The lives of our doctors who will handle quarantine settlements should be under life insurance cover, to encourage them.
