8/2/2019 Hepatitis: The yellow menace - Living News - Issue Date: Oct 15, 1980

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Steady and alarming increase in incidence of jaundice in India reported

A steep rise in the incidence of viral hepatitis - commonly known as jaundice - is an inescapable concomitant of
the monsoons.
Bina Jang Ashok R. Pandey
Story in
January 7, 2014 ISSUE DATE: October 15, 1980 | UPDATED: December 9, 2014 13:48 IST Audio

"E
xcessive 'Pitta' is produced due to excessive consumption of 'Pitta' producing food that leads to appearance of
Kamala (jaundice) due to burning of the blood and muscles." - Lord Susruta in 200 B. C.

Dr Tandon: The disease can be contained

A steep rise in the incidence of viral hepatitis - commonly known as jaundice - is an inescapable concomitant of the
monsoons.
https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/living/story/19801015-steady-and-alarming-increase-in-incidence-of-jaundice-in-india-reported-821524-2014-01-07 1/9
8/2/2019 Hepatitis: The yellow menace - Living News - Issue Date: Oct 15, 1980

Recent data released by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence - and the six epidemics reported in the past three
years - clearly show that there has been a steady and alarming increase in the incidence of the 'yellow peril'. Unlike in
most western countries however, hepatitis is not listed as a notifiable disease in India. "The statistics we have may be
just the tip of an iceberg," confesses a Health Ministry official.

The shoddiness of the data-collection machinery becomes apparent with major states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar not
even represented in the Bureau's files. Even so, the total number of jaundice cases jumped from 1,41,283 in 1978 to 1,
63, 608 in 1979. The death toll also shot up from 1,838 in 1978 to 2, 139 last year.

Allopathic medicine has no cure for infectious hepatitis. The disease is, therefore, allowed to run its course. But,
ayurveda, the ancient system of Indian medicine, claims to have a remarkable cure for jaundice. Patients who have
been treated by ayurvedic methods at the Moolchand Khairatiram Hospital in Delhi are known to have been cured
within 15 days. Haridatta Shastri, director of the ayurvedic wing of Moolchand Hospital epitomised the plight of the
ayurvedic practitioner when he told India Today: "I cannot tell you the name of the medicines we use. Do you want Story in
Audio
everyone to become a vaidya?"

Ayurvedic Drugs: A surprising development of recent years is that the votaries of allopathic medicine at New Delhi's All
India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) are increasingly realising the importance of ayurveda in curing certain
diseases like hepatitis. As an offshoot of a seminar on "Ancient Insights into Modern Medicine" held at the Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavan several years ago, a special cell has been created at the AIIMS to experiment with ayurvedic drugs. The
tests carried out on 15 patients under the supervision of an ayurvedic practitioner yielded very good results by scientific
criteria." The drug daru haridra, derived from the plant barbaris was also recommended as the best drug for hepatitis at
a conference of ayurvedic practitioners in Delhi last month. These tests at the AIIMS have however been suspended
temporarily awaiting clearance from a committee.

"It is very possible that western countries may have access to our ayurvedic formulae and come out in the market
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8/2/2019 Hepatitis: The yellow menace - Living News - Issue Date: Oct 15, 1980

before we do," said Professor K. Ramachandran, a bio-statistician. In fact, two local drugs for blood pressure and
stomach disorders, sarpagandha and mulathi are now being widely marketed in Europe as Serpasil and Biogastrone.

Story in
Infectious hepatitis is a man-made problem, only aided by nature. Unhygienic living conditions, exacerbated by ill- Audio

planned sewage and water conduits, results in its high prevalence and in frequent epidemics. It is also the most
common cause of chronic liver problems in India. About 2 per cent of the affected patients develop serious liver
ailments, leading to a death raise of 90 per cent in this group.

The death rate is highest among pregnant women. In a recent epidemic in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, 60 per
cent of the pregnant women who contracted the disease died because of it. "It is very essential for pregnant women to
take injections of gama globulin as a preventive measure." says Dr B.N. Tandon, head of the Gastroenteritis Department
at AIIMS.

Three Categories: Viral hepatitis is usually categorised under three heads: the virus A type, the virus B type, and the non-
A non-B group. Virus A - the most prevalent form of hepatitis in India - is a milder form of the disease, and is usually
transmitted through contaminated drinking water. Virus B spreads primarily through the parenteral route via injections
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8/2/2019 Hepatitis: The yellow menace - Living News - Issue Date: Oct 15, 1980

and inoculations. Not much is known about the third group.

The virus attacks the liver cells and destroys them in a process known in medical parlance as necrosis. As the liver cells
die under the onslaught of the virus, the early symptoms are usually fatigue and loss of appetite. Sometimes as much as
four-fifths of the liver cells are destroyed before tangible evidence of jaundice can be seen. The yellowing process
occurs because the liver is unable to excrete bile-which it normally passes on to the gall bladder and the duodenum.

The lack of a widely accepted remedy for jaundice underscores the need for preventive measures. The appalling gap
between precept and practice usually assumes frightening proportions in India. Standard medical practice demands
that infectious hepatitis patients be kept in isolation to prevent the disease from spreading. But New Delhi's hospitals
have made a travesty of the rule. It is a common sight to see a hepatitis patient lying next to a heart patient. Even more
alarming is the indiscriminate and unsanitary use of syringes and needles, which can result in the spread of the virus B
form of hepatitis.

Story in
Audio
Precautions: The care of a hepatitis patient at home is equally fraught with danger. Towels, soaps, toiletries and eating
plates are potential carriers of the virus and should be kept separate from those of the rest of the household. An
effective containing of the yellow peri! calls for a coordinated attack on many fronts. Simple remedial measures such as
the isolation of hepatitis patients have substantially brought down the cases of Virus B hepatitis in many western
countries.

"It is very much within the means of the medical authorities and civil administrators to control the disease in India,
provided there is the will," says Dr Tandon. But when the callousness of health authorities is mixed with the lethargy of
the administrators responsible for implementing preventive measures, the citizen has no alternative but to live with
such a lethal brew.

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