DIAGNOSIS WITH GUINEA PIG ( CAVIA PORCELLUS ), AYMARA X-RAYS AND TREATMENT IN TIMES OF COVID-19

Objective: The objective is to identify the use and practice of diagnosis with Cuy ( Cavia Porcellus ), Aymara X-rays and treatment in Covid-19 times as a natural method different from the diagnostic and medication procedures of modern scientific biomedicine in this context. Theoretical framework: Traditional Aymara medicine is a current medical system practiced by peasant health agents, who still have a particular profile, where leadership, sensitivity, vocation, especially of service, stand out. It is still a system that responds to the health needs of the population. In the last two years, Aymara medicine resisted the Covid-19 pandemic with its own local resources, highlighting herbal medicine, the use of mineral and animal by-products in the diagnosis and treatment of post-Covid-19 patients. Method: This is an interpretative qualitative case study with ethnographic design through which the perceptions and practices of health restoration of doctors and Aymara patients affected by Covid-19 are analyzed. The research was conducted in the Aymara peasant communities of the provinces of Chucuito, El Collao and Puno in the districts of Acora, Chucuito and Pichacani, in the department of Puno (Peru) during the period 2021-2022. Results: The results show that ancestral Aymara medicine is an integral medical system that responds to a set of knowledge and know-how for the treatment of various physiological and cultural diseases. The guinea pig is important in traditional medicine, it is used as an "X-Ray" and has efficacy in the diagnosis, treatment, follow-up and prognosis of diseases caused by Covid-19 in the Aymara communities.


INTRODUCTION
The study of traditional medicines should not be analyzed from the perspective of conventional medicine and its scientific concepts (since there will be no explanations), but from the perspective of the culture that carries it out, based on cultural anthropology, in order to interpret the interaction of the healer with the folkloric magical background in which he operates to heal ( Van Dalen, 2020).Traditional Andean medicine has historical roots that go back ten thousand years in time, whose permanence has become plausible throughout three centuries of Spanish colony and two of republican life (Negrete et al., 2018), it has epistemological foundations that They are different from Western biomedicine (Shankar, 2000).In the context of the pandemic, community health is understood as a product of the harmonization of the natural community (man-nature-deities).The concept integrates two key elements: on the one hand, the physical-psychological aspect of being well with oneself and on the other hand, the harmonious relationship with the community that is expressed in Good Living (Cárdenas L., 2020), in this sense the disharmony It causes an imbalance in the body and this manifests itself as a disease (Chambi & Chambi, 1995) in people.
In Aymara communities, the disease caused by covid-19 is identified with pig disease.Also, the pandemic is mostly identified with the idea of a rupture of the cosmological order due to the excesses of a life dedicated to consumption and the impacts of productive activities on the environment (Campos & Chambeaux, 2021).For many peoples, equipped with other tools of analysis and comparison, the virus was not only a biological agent, but a perhaps more voracious and global variant of the continuous predatory actions of the white and mestizo world on life, resources, territory and the work of the Indians (Hernandez & Peña, 2021).The meaning and understanding of diseases vary according to the different societies that analyze it, presenting different symptomatology, depending on the environment and cultural environment in which the same disease develops ( Van Dalen, 2020).In this context, health and illness are connected with other aspects of social life and culture, even with the surrounding environment of indigenous populations (Eroza & Carrasco, 2020).
According to the International Labor Organization, 55 million indigenous people in Latin America and the Caribbean are affected by high vulnerability to the COVID-19 crisis (ILO, 2020).In this perspective, in the pandemic the Aymara used both ancestral medicine and Western medicine to mitigate the diseases caused by Covid-19.This pandemic, also known as SARS-CoV-2, has challenged homo sapiens to show him that he is not the owner of the planet and that in his predatory career he has underestimated what a small entity can cause (Sevareid, (Rodríguez et al., 2021).The symptoms and signs reported by patients with post-Covid syndrome (PCS) are numerous and varied, which makes their diagnosis more complex (Guillén, 2021).
In Andean communities, a common method to identify people's diseases is a rodent called kuwi that is used as a primary diagnostic instrument (Negrete et al., 2018), this diagnosis technique Frisancho Pineda calls X-rays of the Aymaras (Frisancho , 1981), which are used by healers.One of the main functions of the guinea pig is to use it as a medicinal and divination instrument, through soba or jubeo, in order to diagnose and treat people suffering from a disease ( Van Dalen, 2020).The guinea pig also has uses related to prediction and rejection of the damage that the supernatural can cause to humans (Bolton, 2009).This technique of the indigenous doctor is capable of reproducing in real time all the ailments and illnesses that afflict the patient, which is impossible to do with the use of modern medicine medical equipment.The histopathological study of the guinea pig's organs corroborates the reproduction in the analogous organ of the condition that the patient has and postulates the hypothesis of chiral biophotons.This confirms that the cells of all living beings, including humans, emit biophotons and it was verified that DNA is the source of such emissions (Reyna, 2002).
The Nobel Prize in Physics Dr. Luc Montagnier shared with the world a few years ago the confirmation that apparently DNA would be capable of teleportation thanks to electromagnetism.This theoretical foundation could very well explain why the ancestral practice of soba with guinea pig is effective (Negrete et al., 2018), this ancestral wisdom has been put into service by peasant health agents to counteract the diseases caused by Covid-19 in many high Andean communities where there are currently no medical health services or having these services.there is credibility of the population.Given the complexity of the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and its clinical versatility, there is no standard treatment and the response to therapies is unstable (Rodríguez et al., 2021) according to the traditional medical system of the towns.

METHODOLOGY
The research was carried out in the Aymara peasant communities of the provinces of Chucuito, El Collao and Puno in the districts of Acora, Chucuito and Pichacani, in the department of Puno during the period 2021-2022.It is a qualitative interpretive case study with an ethnographic design through which the perceptions and health restoration practices of Aymara doctors and patients affected by Covid-19 are analyzed.For this, the semi-structured interview guides were applied to healers who enjoy community recognition and patients affected by covid-19.The protagonists are made up of ten patients and two Aymara doctors.To understand a general overview of the treatment with guinea pig, participant observation and life story protocols of people affected by Covid-19 were substantial.

ANCESTRAL MEDICINE IN AYMARA COMMUNITIES IN TIMES OF COVID-19
For the World Health Organization (WHO), traditional medicine is the sum total of knowledge, skills and practices based on indigenous theories, beliefs and experiences of different cultures, whether explainable or not, used for the maintenance of health, as well as for the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical or mental illnesses (WHO, 2013).Likewise, in countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, there are living systems of medical knowledge that are indigenous and have been evolving in these societies for generations (Shankar, 2000).
Aymara medicine is a current medical system practiced by rural health agents, who have a particular profile, which highlights leadership, sensitivity, vocation, especially service.The agent represents the person responsible for the action, that is, who has the capacity to act and act for health; given the complexity of community work, especially in some situations and with some populations.It is an efficient, balanced, comprehensive system that responds to the health needs of the population.In the last two years, Aymara medicine resisted the Covid-19 pandemic with its own local resources, highlighting herbal medicine, the use of mineral and animal byproducts in the diagnosis and treatment of post-Covid-19 patients.Traditional Andean medicine, as a health system, is not framed in Western paradigms, nor does it use diagnostic methods or therapeutic processes that are distant from the biotic and abiotic resources that the Andes possess (Pariona, 2017).It is a local medicine that responds to a group of patients who practice it.The disease prevention system is very important for the Aymaras, they do not wait for the last moment to treat Covid-19 diseases.In this regard, the healer states: "… being well, we must put the guinea pig on our body, to know our state of health.The black guinea pig is good to learn about our disease.It is placed beautifully on the affected part of the body."  3 | p.1-19 | e06618 | 2024.6 Wild animals are used by peasant families as remedies to cure various diseases.In certain cases, the entire animal is used, in others its organs, leather or wool, sometimes its ingestion, and feces (PRATEC, 1999).The practices of Qulliris, Yatiris and also the Luriris, Awkis have knowledge of native medicine focused on understanding the healing properties of medicinal plants, preparation of concoctions for each illness according to the case and have knowledge of the psychology of their people ( Llanque, 1990).For this reason, they ensure the health of the human community and their actions focus more on the treatment and protection of Aymara families, not only from physical illnesses but also from spiritual and mental illnesses (Chambi & Chambi, 1995).
In traditional Andean medicine, the influence of humoral therapy is observed (Cárdenas L., 2020), it means that discomfort is caused by cold and heat, in this context, Covid-19 is recognized as the disease caused by the cold, due to poor diet, and even caused by the forces of nature.Research asserts that the good practices developed by indigenous communities to contain and mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic highlight the establishment of sanitary fences, the control of social mobility risks, solidarity practices of food distribution, cultivation of gardens to guarantee food autonomy and the use of traditional medicine (Velasco, 2021).
Aymara medicine recognizes two important areas of intervention.The body and supernatural forces (Carpio & Velásquez, 2007).In this sense, the highly complex diseases caused by Covid-19 have been assimilated from the perspective of the Andean medical system, carrying out the diagnosis and treatment with the community's own resources.On this matter we have the patient's testimony: "The healer diagnosed me that I am overly cold and recommended that I drink hot mates, after days I showed no improvement.Then, I visited the healer again to read the coca.He has told me that my illness is caused by a sacred place on the road that has damaged my health.To carry out the diagnosis and treatment, the guinea pig has been used." Currently, there are known cases of doctors and experiences of care with alternative medicines based on an etiology of the disease that is not only material, but also due to an immaterial condition, in which the disease is not attributed to an external material agent but to thoughts (Ramírez , 2020).For the Aymara population, the disease implies disorders that affect both the body and the soul and, above all, the relationships that they maintain with the universe (Victoria, 2004).On the subject, the patient tells us: 7 "On one occasion my wife got sick, we went to my father who has knowledge of the reading of coca, the diagnosis with guinea pig and the manifestations of the mood (scare).When evaluating my wife the results were; that she had been made into a bad place.For the treatment she has used the guinea pig for diagnosis and a mass (offering)." The perception of health has a holistic connotation regarding physical and spiritual integration; Likewise, the healer is a specialist in the care and treatment of diseases (Cárdenas L., 2020).In this orientation, indigenous peoples have developed different local responses that have been supported by their own symbolic configurations and cultural traditions (Campos & Chambeaux, 2021).

DIAGNOSIS OF GUINEA GUINE FOR THE TREATMENT OF COVID-19 DISEASES
In Aymara communities there are different ways of diagnosing sick patients.There are those who practice reading the vein, taking the pulse, and especially the analysis of the viscera of the guinea pig after having rubbed the patient's body.These practices have also been part of the Kallawaya healers (Fernández, 1997) and in the towns of Latin America.According to Bertonio, the term Huanko cchaatha (open the guinea pig or the cloth that is over the heart to divine) (Bertonio, 1612) is to determine diseases.Similarly, the word Huanccu Yati (what the guinea pig knows), which in medical terms is known as radiography, in the Aymara context the diagnostic procedure is considered X-ray (Frisancho, 1981).
The symptoms of Covid-19 in patients are confused with diseases caused by sacred and haunted places.The most frequent symptoms are: fatigue, pain or tightness in the chest, alterations in taste, loss of smell and intensity of cough.The less recurrent sequelae are: headache, arthralgia, anorexia, dizziness, myalgia, insomnia, alopecia, sweating and diarrhea.
Research states that some symptoms resolve more quickly than others (Peramo & López, 2021).
In this regard, the patient details the symptoms of Covid-19 diseases.
"My arm and elbow hurt, my shoulder went numb, my hand swelled, my face and the palm of my hand turned purple.I thought it was makhurki (numbness).I felt bad and I was scared, at the moment I didn't know how to cure myself."This had been the symptoms of the Covid-19 disease." Patients report the symptoms they present when they are sick, so it can be assumed that it is Covid-19.About the case the patient tells us: "When I had Covid-19, I used medicinal herbs for my treatment and they recommended that I buy from the immunocar pharmacy.I consumed them for three days and there was no improvement and I was sicker.I also had myself treated by a psychologist and he recommended that I go out on the street, walk all day, even at night I couldn't sleep." The application of guinea pig soba is substantial in the treatment process for Covid-19 patients.In this regard, the interviewee tells us the following: "The healer recommended that I buy a black guinea pig to put on my body.When she went to buy, the saleswomen said that the black guinea pig is good for removing all evils, and they recommended that the guinea pig should be in the body for approximately eight hours.They put the guinea pig on me and from time to time they moved it to different parts of the body.And the guinea pig moved, scratched me, urinated on me, and breathed heavily." Peasant health agents have a methodology for diagnoses.The direct procedure is observation, contact, conversation and indirect diagnosis with guinea pig, reading coca leaves, examining urine, interpreting dreams and omens (Irarrázaval, 1992).Regarding this guinea pig diagnostic procedure, the patient tells us: "At the time of removing the guinea pig, the healer tells me that I should not see it to heal quickly and pronounces "kuti kuti, qajura qajura" (healthy, healthy; clean, clean)." The diagnosis of diseases is fundamental in the Aymaras, through practice the etiology of the illnesses that affect the body is known.Likewise, they consider health as a right and reciprocal action in the community.It is customary for the patient's family to request the services of the healer or healer and the patient contributes by offering products or money for the assistance.For this reason, it is considered the wisdom of the master healer (Polia, 2001).
In this regard, the community healer explains: "The healer on her istalla (alpaca wool tablecloth) takes out the coca leaves and says that I will be fine and recommends that I do a diagnosis three times with guinea pig, then you will be in better health." The diagnosis, treatment, prognosis and monitoring are derived from particular nosological, etiological and semiological classifications, they are considered true and valid by the people who live in the societies in which these health systems are practiced (Chávez & Carpio, 2018).The vizcacha (Lagidium viscacia) has also been used in the diagnosis of people's diseases, it serves the healer as "X-rays" (Urbano & Macera, 1992).The indigenous doctor is a specialist who diagnoses the patient based on natural, bodily symptoms and interprets them in 9 a framework of symbolic meaning (Bonfil, 2001).This practice takes place at home, in private and with the presence of family members, the center of attention is the patient and everything depends on the patient's condition.In this sense, post-covid-19 patients receive treatment in open spaces to avoid contagion, they also drink coke and sip alcohol to avoid contagion, in this regard the patient narrates: "The healer told me that the guinea pig's blood was thick, the lungs were damaged with pink spots and he also told me that the bile was inflamed.The kidney and womb are fine.He finally tells me that Covid-19 had already passed and I just have to take care of the cold." He adds to us with his patient testimony that he has overcome Covid-19, however, he has consequences from the disease.In this regard he tells us: "After getting sick with Covid-19 we are no longer normal, we have breathing difficulties, anomalies in memory and perception, that is, we forget, our vision is altered.When we were diagnosed with guinea pig, the healer stated that spots appeared on the lungs, sometimes there was pain, for this he recommended ch'irich'iri, matiku (wild plants), coca and ointments." Research considers that the physical organism of the guinea pig and the patient are similar and in the jubeo process the disease is carried out with greater notoriety and ease (Van Dalen, 2020).In some communities they consider that this technique involves more than just a diagnosis; It is used to extract the disease from the patient.There are various practices, such as rubbing the guinea pig on the patient's body and then releasing it outside the house so that it escapes, taking the disease with it (Bolton, 2009).The informants maintain that curly, black guinea pigs are appropriate for this practice.On the subject he tells us: "My daughter was very sick with Covid-19, the healer rubbed the entire body with the guinea pig, after getting off the body he took the guinea pig to the pampas to release it and thus take it away to the disease." In the comparative study of Jubeo with X-rays and ultrasound, 70% of the diagnoses coincided (Orihuela & Martinez, 1993).The diagnosis and treatment technique for guinea pig has legitimacy and acceptance in the Aymara communities; it is a very efficient ancestral technique that can be perfected with interdisciplinary research.In this regard, the patient comments: 10 "In the community he put a plaster on my left arm that I had difficulty lifting.He told me it was too cold, but the pain in my arm persisted because it was swollen.In the second plaster, my mother gave me the guinea pig, finding that the heart was damaged." The knowledge of treating diseases is not only for healers, but there are also practices and knowledge in the family context (Pesantes & Gianella, 2020).There is also another practice called turka (change), which consists of removing the disease from the patient.In this regard, the informant explains: "when the guinea pig dies in the patient's body, it is considered Turkic as a change of life."In the research process we found that some healers, when the guinea pig dies in the patient's body, take it to the river to heal within a certain time and others examine and intervene on the guinea pig, at the end they use the edible oil for the purpose of sick person restore health.

THE TREATMENT OF COVID-19 WITH MEDICINAL PLANTS
The Aymara residents have historically had knowledge of the usefulness of various medicinal plants for the diagnosis and treatment of different physiological and cultural diseases.
In this context of the SARS-CoV-2 health emergency in the communities, the lives of families and the subsistence economy of the population have been endangered.Faced with this reality, the Aymaras created strategies to restore the health of people affected by Covid-19, through the use of medicinal plants such as: matico (piper aduncum), eucalyptus (eucalyptus), muña (minthostachys mollis), coca (erythroxylum coca), sarsa parilla (smilax aspera), wirawira (Gnaphalium sp), garlic (allium sativum), onion (allium cepa), lemon (citrus limon), kion (zingiber officinale) and paiqo (Chenopodium ambrosiades).The plants traditionally used for Covid-19 are used not only as collective self-affirmation but also as a response to the lack of other types of medicines (Rivadeneira & Aparicio, 2020).
The qulliris (Aymara doctors) know the healing properties of plants, animals and minerals.Therefore, he recommends a variety of forms of health care treatment to patients.

About this wisdom he tells us:
"To recover health in the community we use plants such as wira wira, eucalyptus, muña, as well as minerals such as: chaqu, lime, qullpa and incensio, also domesticated and wild animals, for rituals it is generally fetuses".
The use of plants with medicinal properties has been common among the indigenous population throughout the world, the knowledge of their uses has been transmitted from 11 generation to generation through the so-called healers, people who are knowledgeable about plants and their medical uses (Obando & Silva, 2020).For this reason, families have gardens with healing plants.
The use of medicinal plants is the result of the experience and intimate contact with nature that society has accumulated for generations.This knowledge has allowed communities that live in remote places to survive, where there are deficiencies in medical services (Orantes & Moreno, 2018).But knowledge about medicinal plants is also used today to mitigate diseases caused by Covid-19.The consequences of post-Covid-19 continue to appear, although some are more visible than others, sometimes they are silent.These cases become so natural that they will become part of everyday life, since they will not be detected until a long time after the pandemic (Sevareid, 2021).

CONSUMPTION OF GUINEASE MEAT IN COVID-19 AND POS COVID-19 PATIENTS AND HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE
The breeding of guinea pig is substantial in Aymara communities, it is consumed in extraordinary moments such as: in patron saint festivals and rituals.Guinea pig meat is a food of excellent flavor and quality that is characterized by containing a high level of protein and low fat; In addition, good quality cholesterol, minerals and vitamins (MINAGRI, 2019).In this context of health emergency, guinea pig meat is nutraceutical, which is why patients with Covid-19 and post-Covid-19 consume it to strengthen the immune system.The protagonists assert that it is consumed in quinoa and vegetable soup, and health agents also recommend its consumption.
Studies confirm that black guinea pig meat is an excellent remedy for chest pains associated with pneumonia, bronchitis and tuberculosis.It is considered that a single meal with guinea pig meat is enough to cure illnesses (Bolton, 2009).It has a high biological value, because it contains the essential amino acids and essential fatty acids required in human nutrition (MINAGRI, 2019).In this regard, the patient tells us: "I was in the hospital with Covid-19 in the ICU (intensive care unit), I couldn't breathe or stand up, I was on a stretcher, they treated me with pills and injectables.Then I went to the recovery room, where they gave me pure guinea pig broth from my family, which helped me a lot in recovering my health."12 Guinea pig meat contains 78.1% water, 19% protein, 1.6% fat, 1.2% minerals and 0.1% total and available carbohydrates.Among the most important minerals are Calcium (29 mg1), Phosphorus (258 mg), Zinc (1.57mg) and Iron (1.90 mg).Likewise, it presents the content of the main vitamins such as Thiamine (0.06 mg2), Riboflavin (0.14 mg) and Niacin (6.50 mg); as well as the energy content that reaches 96 kcal (Reyes, 2017).These properties are what favor and restore the patient's health after Covid-19.This gastronomic wisdom is important for other diseases.Guinea pig-based broths are consumed by people who suffer from an illness, are recovering from an operation, or by women before and after pregnancy (Dalen, 2019).The health of the human community has a lot to do with what is produced and the wild plants in its own geographic space.Non-Western peoples depend on up to 80% of non-commercial plantand animal-based foods and medicines for their daily diet (Ryser, 2019).Peasant families consume it for its high protein properties and lack of cholesterol.It is recommended to consume parboiled guinea pig only with salt.It is a great food to prevent cancer today (Negrete et al., 2018).
Patients have lived a hospital experience where there is uncertainty about the diagnosis, about therapeutic options that can transgress ways of life, beliefs, among others, and also implies a connotation of abandonment (Arboleda & Vargas, 2019).The Aymara population considers that the conventional medical system has a doctor-subject, patient-object treatment, where there is no friendly family and communal treatment.The problems of the hegemonic medical system are the difficulty of access in a hospital environment, little time for medical consultation, deterioration of doctor-patient relationships, lack of results in some chronic or terminal diseases, but there is also the relevance of technological diagnosis focused on defining a specific organ dysfunction of the disease to the detriment of a comprehensive vision of the individual (Albert, 2020).We note that, in addition to these deficiencies, there is post-Covid-19 stress that is recurrent in patients.
The doctor-patient relationship is of different types, and mostly a hierarchical relationship, the doctor who orders and gives instructions to the patient, these treatments obey the coloniality of the person who thinks them, within a dominant order in which power, knowledge and being are only typical of a culture that is shown as dominant (Ramírez, 2020).Scientific medicine is notable for the use of chemical drugs for the treatment of diseases and the use of sophisticated modern medical instruments in the field of hospital surgery.However, in the context of traditional medicine, the bidirectional relationship in which both parties collaborate for a common goal can provide greater benefits (Carreño, 2020).The patient of a traditional doctor is not a passive agent who must submit to the will of the specialist, but rather 13 participates actively and responsibly in his or her healing process (Favaron & Bensho, 2021).
The treatment is cordial and mutual trust between the Aymara patient-doctor.
The possibility of an intercultural dialogue between different medical traditions is truncated by the arrogant conviction about the superiority of scientific methods (Favaron & Bensho, 2021), and the inferiority of techniques and methods of traditional Andean medicine.
As long as it is not recognized that it is possible to understand diseases in a different way than biomedical and use other types of diagnoses and treatments, the intercultural approach will continue to be an empty discourse and epistemological discrimination will continue (Pesantes & Gianella, 2020).The issues of interculturality in health are much more complex than the mere encounter between ways of understanding and acting in reference to health and illness (Eroza & Carrasco, 2020).We have deep-rooted structural and cultural gaps in Peru that do not allow sincere intercultural dialogue in conditions of parity and mutual respect between health systems.The 21st century pandemic called Covid-19 has made visible that the notion of state interculturality in health does not work; on the contrary, it appeals to a unilateral, exclusive dialogue where indigenous people are expected to take the place of passive listeners.A rhetoric that has not managed to modify the State's relationship with indigenous peoples, nor has it saved lives in the country's deepest health crisis (Cárdenas & Reymundo, 2021).
The guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) is important in traditional medicine, it is used as "Xrays" and is effective in the diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and prognosis of diseases caused by Covid-19 in Aymara communities.In this context, the consumption of guinea pig meat is very important for Covid-19, because it contains 78.1% water, 19% protein, 1.6% fat, 1.2% minerals and 0.1%. of total and available carbohydrates.Among the most important minerals are Calcium (29 mg1), Phosphorus (258 mg), Zinc (1.57mg) and Iron (1.90 mg).Likewise, it 14 presents the content of the main vitamins such as Thiamine (0.06 mg2), Riboflavin (0.14 mg) and Niacin (6.50 mg); as well as the energy content that reaches 96 kcal, for the patient's recovery and strengthening of the immune system.