Some heartbroken people drown their sorrows with alcohol. Perhaps the hangover following their drinking binge diverts their attention from the pain of losing their lover.

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, misinformation circulated online claiming that drinking spirits prevented or treated the coronavirus infection.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism denied this, explaining that hand sanitizers with 60 to 95 percent ethyl alcohol could help destroy the virus on surfaces. Still, one standard alcoholic drink only gave a tiny fraction of the concentration needed to produce antiseptic action.

The NIAAA added that alcohol in the body weakens the immune system and makes the body vulnerable to infection.

Like Covid-19, there is no treatment for African Swine Fever, or ASF, which kills pigs and is dreaded by hog raisers. An ASF vaccine has reportedly been developed, but unless immunization is done, the only other way to stop its spread is to cull all exposed swine herds near outbreak areas according to veterinary protocols.

When ASF recently hit Jovit Sumile’s backyard piggery in Sitio Peas, Barangay Duale in Limay, Bataan, 20 of his pigs got sick. Sumile saw the animals unable to stand and breathing heavily. He got worried, as his neighbors’ pigs had died from ASF.

Friends jokingly advised Sumile to concoct a medicine and force the animals to drink it to save their lives. Out of worry, he did as they suggested.

The following morning, Sumile was shocked to see all his pigs well, as if they had not been sick at all. He narrated what happened to the provincial veterinarian, Dr. Alfred Venturina, who was impressed.

Asked about the potion he concocted and gave to his ASF-stricken pigs, Sumile said he mixed a popular brand of brandy with Vetracin and vinegar. According to a poultry and piggery website, Vetracin is an antibiotic with multivitamins that prevents and controls bacterial enteritis and bacterial pneumonia in chickens and pigs.

Mixed with the brandy, we can only surmise the hogs were very happy, too.                                          

WITH MAR T. SUPNAD