Gujarat doctors warn against ‘cow dung therapy’ to boost immunity

AHMEDABAD: Doctors in Gujarat have warned against the use of so-called ‘cow dung therapy’ to boost immunity and said that smearing it all over the body does not protect against the novel coronavirus. They added that this may cause other infections in the patients, including mucormycosis.

A small group of people in the region have been continuously visiting a cow shelter run by Shree Swaminarayan Gurukul Vishwavidya Prathisthanam (SGVP), Ahmedabad, to take this therapy. A SGVP official said that it houses around 200 cows and almost 15 people visit the place regularly since a month to apply cow dung and urine on the body. Official also added that this dung is then washed off with cow milk.

Dr Dileep Mavlankar, Director, Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar, said that doctors don’t know if this therapy works as they have come across no such research which suggests that applying cow dung on the body can increase immunity against COVID-19 infection. Dr Mona Desai, Senior Doctor from the city, said and termed this therapy as ‘humbug and inauthentic’.

Dr Desai said that cow dung is body waste of an animal and applying it on the body can never boost the immunity or provide protection against COVID-19. She added that several fungi present in the cow dung may enter the body and infect people with mucormycosis as well.