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Article: ZULU RITUAL IMMUNISATION IN PERSPECTIVE.
- Article from:
- Africa
- Article date:
- March 22, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Edinburgh University Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Making incisions (umgcabo) and punctures (ukutshobha) in the skin for the purpose of introducing medication (umuthi, pl. imithi) into the human body is a widely used technique in traditional Zulu medicine. It may be ranked with the use of injections in Western medicine, with which it is often compared. Most people who have consulted a traditional healer, which includes the overwhelming majority of the urban and rural black population of KwaZulu/Natal, will have been treated with umgcabo or ukutshobha at one time or another. In its current form it is a potential route for infection by blood-borne pathogens, both viral, e.g. Hepatitis B (HBV), Hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV, and ...