TREATMENT OF AIDS UNDER THE AYURVEDIC SYSTEM:

Experience has shown that certain herbo-mineral compounds prepared as per the formulae prescribed by sages of yore like Agasthya, Charaka, Sarangadhara and others for the treatment of Kshaya have brought about significant results in improving the conditions Aids patients. The Rasayana and Vajikara effects of the said medicines have done much good to the patients. Case studies of a few cases are given below.

HIV

The virus that causes ‘ Aids HIV belongs to a family of viruses known as retroviruses. HIV looks like a rolled up porcupine. It contain two snakes like single strands of RNA along with reverse transcripts firmly wrapped up in a core, which resembles a core with a dimple at its base. This core is protected by a spherical shell of protein which, inturn is encapsulated by an envelope which has a knob like protein sticking out of its surface, giving HIV its characteristic appearance.

On entering the white blood cells known as CD 4 cells, HIV sheds its coats to expose its true colors deadly genetic machinery which masterminds the production of its own DNA and sees to it that this gets inserted into the DNA of the host cell. The viral DNA has enough power and information to direct the destiny of the cell. It can force the cell to manufacture raw material, which if it so desires, can give rise to several new copies of HIV. However due to certain trigger and regulatory mechanisms, the viral DNA lies dormant in the host cell for several years before it begins to do the damage. By virtue of its slow action, HIV is classified under a subgroup of retroviruses called lento viruses (lentos – slow). AIDS

People infected with HIV may take 7 – 10 years to develop AIDS. AIDS is an acronym for the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS is not a single disease but it is a syndrome- a set of diseases, which results from the destruction of the body’s defenses by human immune deficiency virus, HIV.

AIDS IN AYURVEDA:

According to Ayurveda the AIDS disease may be correlated with KSHAYA. The Symptoms and causative factors and treatment for the latter are found mentioned in many ancient Ayurvedic tests like, Vaidyachintamani Charaka Samhitha, Bhavaprakasha and Chakradatta etc.,

The disease is caused because the dominant kapha dosha along with the other doshas tends to block the path for the flow of rasadi dhatus in their respective locations thus resulting in the deterioration of saptha dhatu Rasas (Chile including lymph), Rakta (Hemoglobin factor in the blood ). Mamsa (Muscle tissue), Medas (fat tissue), Majji (Bone marrow), shukra (Sperm in male and ova in female), thus resulting into the disease. Symptoms mostly noticed in this disease are prolonged fever, diarrhea, cough, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, weight loss, emaciation etc.,

PRINCIPLES OF AYURVEDA:

According to Ayurveda, nothing in this universe is devoid of pancha maha bhootas (Five Elements) they are:

1. Prithi\vi (earth)
2. Jala (Water)
3. Teja (Fire)
4. Vayu (Air)
5. Aakasha (ether)

According to Ayurveda the five maha bhootas are explained in terms of tridosha, sapta dhatu , trimala, the fundamental affluent. In a perfect and healthy state of the body doshas, dhatoos, malas, are being kept in a dynamic state of equilibrium to maintain the positive health. Any disturbance in their relative performance in the body will lead to disease.

NEED OF RASAYANA:

Among the four stages of life, youth is the most important stage of one’s life. As the age advances the strength to fight all odds including diseases comes down drastically. One of the reason for such a state is improper way of nutrition. Besides, a person who is after worldly pleasures falls prey to them and loses an important element namely "shukra" (vital fluid). The loss of this is said to lead to low immunity resulting in a state of fragile health prone to get afflicted with diseases. In order to overcome this situation the rejuvenation concept that is the "Rasayana Chikitsa" has been stressed in Ayurveda. By the use of Rasayana one will be free from premature senility, debility, and disease, and is enabled to lead a long and healthy life. It has been mentioned that saga Chyawana has successfully overcome the effects of premature senility with the use of Rasayana. Rasayana therapy promotes strength, modulates immunity against diseases, there by achieving the goal of prolongation of life in general. Another important health promoter is vajikarana, which improves the body strength and also nutritional status in general and also sex vigor.

HIV / AIDS - Herbal Cure

INTRODUCTION TO AYURVEDA:

The origin of Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of medicine can be traced back over 6000 years. Ayurveda means the science or knowledge of life.

Ayurveda, the science of life, for its medicines depends largely on plant kingdom and minerals and also some animal derivatives especially milk and milk products, honey, urine etc., Medicinal plants are used individually as well as in combination and also with minerals the latter being called herbo mineral compounds.

The first chapter in CHARAKA SAMHITHA starts with the exposition on long life (DEERGANJIVITIYA). It is quoted that the sage Bharadwaja who went to heaven to learn this knowledge achieved success in enjoying healthy and long life and taught this knowledge (Ayurveda) to others on the earth to overcome the problems of concerning the four pursuits of human values (purusharthas).

CHYAVANPRASH:

An example of an Ayurvedic remedy which may be of use in the treatment of persons diagnosed with AIDS is 'Chyavanprash'. 'Chyavanprash' is most useful and most popular rejuvenator tonic(Rasayana) of Ayurveda.

This is an Ayurvedic herbal formula which increases ojas, and restores the digestive, eliminative, respiratory and sexual systems. It is frequently employed in wasting conditions where it has been clinically shown to improve health and assist with weight gain. The main ingredient in Chyavanprash is 'Amalaki'- the Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis), which has the highest yield of natural source vitamin C, with 3000 mg per fruit. It is also a rich source of naturally occurring anti-oxidants including bioflavonoids, vitamin B-complex and carotenes (vitamin A). Studies suggest that this berry possesses antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties. It assists digestion, lowers high blood pressure and lowers blood cholesterol. Clinical research has shown that it accelerates repair of muscle and skin and enhances natural anti-inflammatory substances. Chayvanprash also contains about 35 others herbs which amplify and augment the effects of its main ingredient; such a powerful formulation may indeed be helpful in the treatment of persons who have been diagnosed with AIDS.

TREATMENT PLAN

The first step to stem the disease is to ensure a good and healthy atmosphere for the patient. He should be surrounded by well meaning friends and relatives who must affirm that the disease state is totally curable. Nothing negative should be discussed before the patient.
The patient should be given nourishing food which is easily digestible. He should be encouraged to do easy exercise which does not strain his fragile health. He should be kept engaged in fruitful activities which strengthen the good tendencies inherent in him.

Initially, the patient is given tonics and rejuvenators (Rasayanas) to boost immunity levels and to strengthen the system and stimulate appetite.

After gaining some strength, shodhana (elimination) techniques are used to expel toxins from the body through enemas, purgation and emesis. The medications administered at this stage are not hard or drastic, but soft, ghee-based so that the patient withstands them with ease.

Secondly the blood is purified with appropriate medications. Liver corrective measures also play an important role.

A strengthening diet along with medicated ghee preparations and soups is recommended. But spicy, oily and acidic foods are to be avoided. A little alcohol is recommended as anupana (carrier) to aid the digestive process, and also remove blockages in the flow of Rasadi dhatus, i.e. srothorodha.

Patient is advised to do regular exercise. If the patient is incapable of exercising or running due to weakness, then steaming (swedanam) is also recommended. reason behind this is 'Heated blood is said to weaken, and even destroy, the virus in some cases'.

Experience has shown that certain herbo-mineral compounds prepared as per the formulae prescribed by sages like Agasthya, Charaka, Sarangadhara and others for the treatment of Kshaya have brought about significant results in improving the condition of AIDS patients. The Rasayana and Vajikara effects of the these medicines are good for the patients.

Some of the propritery ayurvedic medicines achieving good improvement in the quality of life of patients include 'Chyavanprash', 'Raktavardhak' for Immunity building and 'Sookshma triphla tabs' to keep awaythe the infection.

TREATMENT OF AIDS ACCORDING TO AYURVEDIC SYSTEM:

All seems not lost for the HIV infected persons as the Ayurvedic supplements are proven to be harmless without any side effects and there can only be improvement and not deterioration.

AIDS AYURVEDIC PERSPECTIVE

According to Ayurveda the AIDS disease may be correlated with "Kshaya' or "Ojakshaya' meaning loss of energy. The Symptoms and causative factors and treatment for the latter are found mentioned in many ancient Ayurvedic tests like, Charaka Samhitha, Bhavaprakasha,Vaidyachintamani and Chakradatta etc., Shosha is another condition, which results from loss of energy that is similar to AIDS.

The disease is caused by the dominant kapha dosha along with the other doshas tends to block the path for the flow of rasadi dhatus in their respective locations thus resulting in the deterioration of saptha dhatu Rasa(plasma), Rakta (blood cells),Mansa ( muscular tissue), Meda (adipose tissue), Asthi (bony tissue), Majja (bone marrow) and the Shukra (reproductive tissue). thus resulting into the disease.

The major symptoms are:

• loss of appetite, drastic loss of weight-emaciation
• fatigue and lethargy
• susceptibility to allergies and contagious diseases
• skin irritations
• bronchial disorders, often leading to tuberculosis of the lungs
• damage to intestinal flora resulting in diarrhoea, dysentery, gastritis and
• wide fluctuations in body temperature. prolonged fever
• sleeplessness etc.

AIDS- MODERN CONCEPT

AIDS is an acronym for the 'Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome'. AIDS is not a single disease but it is a syndrome- a set of diseases, which results from the destruction of the body's defenses by human immune deficiency virus, HIV.

The virus that causes ' Aids' - HIV belongs to a family of viruses known as retroviruses. HIV looks like a rolled up porcupine. It contain two snakes like single strands of RNA along with reverse transcripts firmly wrapped up in a core, giving HIV its characteristic appearance.

On entering the white blood cells known as CD 4 cells, HIV produces its own DNA and sees to it that this gets inserted into the DNA of the host cell. The viral DNA has enough power and information to direct the destiny of the cell. It can force the cell to manufacture several new copies of HIV. However due to certain trigger and regulatory mechanisms, the viral DNA lies dormant in the host cell for several years before it begins to do the damage.

People infected with HIV may take 7 - 10 years to develop AIDS.

Ayurveda & AIDS

AIDS is an acronym for the 'Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome'. AIDS is not a single disease but it is a syndrome- a set of diseases, which results from the destruction of the body's defenses by human immune deficiency virus, HIV.

What Happens Inside the Body?

Once HIV enters the human body, it attaches itself to a White Blood Cell (WBC) called CD4. Also, called T4 cells, they are the main disease fighters of the body. Whenever there is an infection, CD4 cells lead the infection-fighting army of the body to protect it from falling sick. Damage of these cells, hence can affect a person's disease-fighting capability and general health.

After making a foothold on the CD4 cell, the virus injects its RNA into the cell. The RNA then gets attached to the DNA of the host cell and thus becomes part of the cell's genetic material. It is a virtual takeover of the cell. Using the cell's division mechanism, the virus now replicates and churns out hundreds of thousands of its own copies. These cells then enter the blood stream, get attached to other CD4 cells and continue replicating. As a result, the number of the virus in the blood rises and that of the CD4 cells declines.

Because of this process, immediately after infection, the viral load of an infected individual will be very high and the number of CD4, low. But, after a while, the body's immune system responds vigorously by producing more and more CD4 cells to fight the virus. Much of the virus gets removed from the blood. To fight the fast-replicating virus, as many as a billion CD4 cells are produced every day, but the virus too increases on a similar scale. The battle between the virus and the CD4 cells continues even as the infected person remains symptom-free.

But after a few years, which can last up to a decade or even more, when the number of the virus in the body rises to very high levels, the body's immune mechanism finds it difficult to carry on with the battle. The balance shifts in favour of the virus and the person becomes more susceptible to various infections. These infections are called Opportunistic Infections because they swarm the body using the opportunity of its low immunity. At this stage, the number of CD4 cells per millilitre of blood (called CD4 Count), which ranges between 500 to 1,500 in a healthy individual, falls below 200. The Viral Load, the quantity of the virus in the blood, will be very high at this stage.

Opportunistic infections are caused by bacteria, virus, fungi and parasites. Some of the common opportunistic infections that affect HIV positive persons are: Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), Tuberculosis (TB), Salmonellosis, Bacillary Angiomatosis (all caused by bacteria); Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Viral hepatitis, Herpes, Human papillomavirus (HPV), Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) (caused by virus); Candidiasis, Cryptococcal meningitis (caused by fungus) and Pneumocystis Carinii pneumonia (PCP). Toxoplasmosis. Cryptosporidiosis (caused by parasites). HIV positive persons are also prone to cancers like Kaposi's sarcoma and lymphoma.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta has listed a series of diseases as AIDS-defining. When these diseases appear, it is a sign that the infected individual has entered the later stage of HIV infection and has started developing AIDS. The progression of HIV positive persons into the AIDS stage is highly individual. Some people can reach the AIDS stage in about five years, while some remain disease free for more than a decade. Measurement of the viral load and the CD4 count helps a doctor in assessing an infected person's health condition

What are the early symptoms of HIV infection?

Many people do not develop any symptoms when they first become infected with HIV. Some people, however, get a flu-like illness within three to six weeks after exposure to the virus. This illness, called Acute HIV Syndrome, may include fever, headache, tiredness, nausea, diarrhoea and enlarged lymph nodes (organs of the immune system that can be felt in the neck, armpits and groin). These symptoms usually disappear within a week to a month and are often mistaken for another viral infection.

During this period, the quantity of the virus in the body will be high and it spreads to different parts, particularly the lymphoid tissue. At this stage, the infected person is more likely to pass on the infection to others. The viral quantity then drops as the body's immune system launches an orchestrated fight.

More persistent or severe symptoms may not surface for several years, even a decade or more, after HIV first enters the body in adults, or within two years in children born with the virus. This period of "asymptomatic" infection varies from individual to individual. Some people may begin to have symptoms as soon as a few months, while others may be symptom-free for more than 10 years. However, during the "asymptomatic" period, the virus will be actively multiplying, infecting, and killing cells of the immune system

AIDS origin

HIV, the infectious agent that causes AIDS, is thought to have originated in non-human primates in sub-Saharan Africa and to have been transferred to humans during the 20th century.

Two species of HIV infect humans: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-2 may have originated from the Sooty Mangabey , an Old World monkey of Guinea-Bissau, Gabon, and Cameroon.
HIV-1 is more virulent. It is easily transmitted and is the cause of the majority of HIV infections globally. HIV-2 is less transmittable and is largely confined to West Africa. HIV-1 is the species described below

Likely spread from animal to human populations

Most HIV researchers agree that HIV evolved from the closely related Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV), and that HIV was transferred from non-human primates to humans in the recent past (as a type of zoonosis). The details of how and where this occurred remain controversial, and no single hypothesis has been unanimously accepted..

Cameroon chimpanzees hypothesis

One hypothesis is the so-called 'Hunter' Theory, according to which a human bushmeat hunter was bitten or cut while hunting or butchering an ape, resulting in infection.
Exactly where and when this occurred has been a matter of debate in the scientific community. Researchers announced in May, 2006 that HIV-1 most likely originated in wild chimpanzees in the southeastern rain forests of Cameroon (modern East Province).
Others place the origin of HIV-1 closer to Kinshasa. Seven years of research and 1,300 chimpanzee genetic samples led Dr. Beatrice Hahn, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, to identify chimpanzee communities near Cameroon's Sanaga River as the most likely original reservoir of HIV-1.

Calculations based on viral mutation rates and HIV-1 sequences preserved in biological samples in 1959 ("ZR59") and 1960 (DRC60) suggest that the jump from chimpanzee to human likely happened during the late 19th century or the early 20th century, a time of rapid urbanisation in the colonial period.Comparative primatologist Jim Moore suggests that colonial practices may have created conditions conducive to the spread of the virus. The hardships of forced labour could have suppressed the immune system of the initial hunter, allowing the virus to infect and take hold in a new host. Rapid urbanisation brought infected people into close contact with others, and colonial commerce provided opportunities for further geographical spread.
Vaccination campaigns against illnesses such as sleeping sickness may have sped the initial spread of HIV-1 when immunisation needles were re-used, and needles were also shared in the booming colonial city of Kinshasa.
Other technological and social disruptions, especially those that affected the food supply and the hunting of bushmeat, are thought to have promoted the cross-over from chimpanzees and the spread amongst humans.

Method of spread

After the initial transfer of SIV from a non-human primate to humans, and the mysterious and sudden change or possible mutation into HIV, the virus ultimately spread via contact among humans to the rest of the world. Since a cross species jump is most likely the origin of HIV, and since HIV became a true epidemic, transmissible from human to human, then the following conditions were needed:

1. a large human population;
2. a large nearby population of the appropriate host animal;
3. an infectious pathogen in the host animal, that eventually produces a mutation that can spread from animal to human;
4. interaction between the species to transmit enough of it to humans to establish a human foothold, which may take millions of individual exposures;
5. a mutation of same pathogen that can spread from human to human;
6. some method that allows the pathogen to disperse widely. This prevents the infection from "burning out" by either killing off its human hosts or provoking immunity in a local population of humans.

Such requirements existed in the remote past with smallpox, and also with the 20th century Spanish flu, despite Spanish flu's New World origin at Fort Riley, Kansas. There the animal reservoir seems to have been two species, chickens and pigs, which were of Old World origin.

Two species of HIV infect humans: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is more virulent and more easily transmitted. HIV-1 is the source of the majority of HIV infections throughout the world, while HIV-2 is less easily transmitted and is largely confined to West Africa.

Both species of the virus (HIV-1 and HIV-2) are believed to have originated in West-Central Africa and jumped species (zoonosis) from a non-human primate to humans. HIV-1 somehow came from Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIVcpz) found in the chimpanzee subspecies Pan troglodytes troglodytes. DNA sequencing indicates that HIV-1 (group M) entered the human population in the early 20th century, probably sometime between 1915 and 1941.
A 2008 paper using a recently-discovered 1960 biopsy suggested a common ancestor between 1884 and 1924.[6] HIV-2 crossed species from a different strain of SIV, this one found in sooty mangabeys (an Old World monkey) of Guinea-Bissau.

SIV in non-human primates tends to cause a non-fatal disease. Comparison of the gene sequence of SIV with HIV should therefore give us information about the factors necessary to cause disease in humans. The factors that determine the virulence of HIV as compared to most SIVs are only now being elucidated. Non-human SIVs contain a nef gene that down-regulates CD3, CD4, and MHC class I expression; most non-human SIVs therefore do not induce immunodeficiency; the HIV nef gene however has lost its ability to down-regulate CD3, which results in the immune activation and apoptosis that is characteristic of chronic HIV infection.