Pigeons and Hepatitis

I have seen it work, and I have spoken to others who have as well.

It’s in the DSM VI

There is no DSM VI, and the DSM is a manual for diagnosing mental illnesses, not physical ones.

There is no DSM VI, and the DSM is a manual for diagnosing mental illnesses, not physical ones.

The DSM is a manual for advancing political agendas, so it would be an apt place to put this.

How is the pigeon method political? It either works or is quackery, but why political?

Ok, so maybe it’s not in the DSM

Taamei Minhagim brings it down (in the back of the Sefer with a bunch of other Refuos). Some claim it works. Others claim to have shown how the trick is accomplished and how it doesn’t really heal anyone. It is important to note that other cultures use the same “treatment” for other diseases, so that lends credence to the fakery Tzad.

I know someone who did it and it worked.

I know a doctor who does this.

DY -“Since when does Ernst and Young have a hepatitis problem?”

Who’s Ernst & Young?

DY,

Your’s would be a better question on the “Going to EY for a date” thread.

DY – From previous news on YWN: “The Ministry of Health on Sunday, 3 Sivan 5774 announced a warning regarding the Eyal Hotel located on Shammai Street in Yerushalayim. The warning states a cook employed by the hotel has been diagnosed with Hepatitis A.”

This wasn’t the only post about Hepatitis & Israel!

A Reuters article from 2004:

Egyptians unable to afford drugs that cost

eight times the average annual wage are resorting to a bogus ritual with

live pigeons to try to cure a serious liver disease, doctors said on

Wednesday.

The alternative treatment for hepatitis C emerged about a year ago and

has become increasingly popular, they said. The ritual is not

traditional and its origins are a mystery.

“The treatment involves removing the feathers from the backside of a

pigeon and holding it on the patient’s navel until the bird dies,” said

Mona Abu-Zekry, a specialist in infectious diseases.

Practitioners say the birds die after sucking the virus into their own

bodies. Abu-Zekry said they secretly choke the birds to death while

holding them against their patients.

“It’s a fallacy. The people doing this are trying to make money from

people who don’t know any better,” she said.

Egypt suffers one of the world’s highest hepatitis C infection rates,

the doctors said. The virus, which is spread by contact with infected

blood, affects about 14 percent of the population and can cause liver

failure and cancer.

Soheir Sheir, a former head of internal medicine at Ain Shams University

in Cairo, said the cost of a 24-week course to treat hepatitis C was

45,000 Egyptian pounds ($7,323).

The United Nations Development Program’s figure for Egyptians’ average

annual income was 5,538 pounds in 2001.

Just because those are the oldest sources you or some frei professor found, does not mean it is actually the oldest sources.

Why are we arguing over whether or not it is legit if there are people here saying they have seen it? Obviously it works.

Mod 29: Really? People have seen it? People have taken blood tests before, reviewed the samples, watched the pigeon thing, then taken another blood test and seen the lack of disease?

Or maybe people have seen someone sick looking sick, seen a charlatan kill a pigeon on his stomach, and then seen the guy look better. The placebo effect is a powerful thing.

YYBC: Yeah, and in that article Dr. Rosner proves that it is a complete fake. I didn’t quote him because there are reasons not to cite him, but he certainly doesn’t agree with the side that it works. And if the source is a Gemara all the more reason not to do it. I believe R’ Avraham Ben HaRambam’s Lashon on someone who follows the Gemara’s refuos is “Damav B’Rosho”.

yayin yashan bkli chadash -“Does anyone know the source for using a pigeon to help cure hepatitis?”

Who cares? What gets me – is why not go to a doctor? Even if already exposed.