OMG..! Infections well known to Ayurveda??
Infections well known to Ayurveda?
- Do Ayurveda really gave a description of infections?
- Which are the diseases that spread in the form of infections?
- Do Ayurveda know how these infections spread?
- Can there be any similarity between the disease symptoms described in Ayurveda hundreds of years ago and the symptoms seen in communicable diseases mentioned in Modern Epidemiology?
Let's find out.
In the current COVID Crisis, if you are using masks, sanitizers, soap, face shield then you are trying to avoid viral infection. Epidemiology is the branch of modern medical science that studies the spread of diseases. A disease that spreads from one person to another is called an infectious or contagious disease. These epidemics are caused due to various infections that transmit from one person to another through different modes of disease transfer.
From the time of Hippocrates to the scientifically advanced present-day in the twenty-first century, all the epidemics have caused serious damage to social health globally. Epidemiology was first studied in modern medicine about 200 years ago, in the 18th century.
Ayurveda is one of the oldest medical science which is still been effectively and practically used in many countries around the globe.
- A question arises does Ayurveda quotes something about infections?
- Does Ayurveda know how this infection spreads?
OMG Amazingly answer to both the above questions is YES. Here is the evidence to prove it.
Hundreds of years ago, the Sushruta Samhita of Ayurveda clearly mentions communicable diseases with the name 'Aupasargika Roga'.
In the past, various skin ailments [from leprosy, fungal infections] were described in Ayurveda with the name 'kushtha vikara'. The below-mentioned verse in the description of this Kushtha disease is found in the 5th chapter of Nidan Sthan in the Sushruta Samhita.
In simple language, the above verse means,
direct touching, sleeping together, shared items such as utensils, clothes, necklaces, etc. can spread diseases such as kushtha [various skin diseases], jwara [various kinds of fever], shosha [tuberculosis-like symptoms], ophthalmic infections [conjunctivitis] from one person to another. Such [infectious or communicable] diseases are called as 'Aupasargika roga'.
This clearly signifies that Sushruta had a full idea of the following things
- Some diseases spread from one person to another
- Direct or indirect contact spreads the disease from a sick person to a healthy person
Not only this, a special astonishment is that if you study the detailed Ayurvedic descriptions of above-mentionned diseases [kushtha, jwara, shosha, netra-abhishyanda] in the verse, you will be assured that it is a description comparable to the skin diseases, various kinds of fevers, tuberculosis, conjunctivitis that are found nowadays. All of these diseases are classified as infections, epidemics, or contagious diseases according to the epidemiology of modern medicine.
According to modern epidemiology, the modes of transmission of infections are the way in which these diseases are transferred from one person to another.
- HIV, AIDS, leprosy spreads through direct body contact
- COVID-19, Swine flu, Bird flu, tuberculosis spreads through contact with respiratory secretions
- Cholera, amoebic dysentery [diarrhea] through contaminated utensils
- Science has proven with the help of microbiology that fungal infections [nita], scabies [scabies] are caused by using each other's clothes, etc.
This means that Acharya Sushruta of Ayurveda had a thorough knowledge of Infectious diseases and modes of transmission of disease as well.
The microscope was invented in the 16th century, epidemiology emerged in the 18th century and a few years later microbiology was introduced by Louis Pasteur in the 19th century. Surprisingly, about two thousand years before the invention of the microscope, epidemiology, microbiology, in the year 2200 AD, Sushrutacharya, [to know when was Sushrut Samhita written, to understand the timeline please check another article named How old is Ayurveda?] with his keen observational ability and studious attitude, wrote a specific description of infectious disorders. This special description of infections mentioned in Sushrut Samhita makes it OMG AMAZING AYURVEDA...!
OMG Amazing Ayurved fact- Description of infections & modes of transfer of infections were mentioned by Acharya Sushruta [more than 2000years] before the origin of Microbiology.
If you like the concept and agree that this blog can help to highlight the Ancient Wisdom of Ayurveda then please like, share, follow OMG Amazing Ayurveda...!
Author
Dr. Ninad Nayan Sadvilkar, M.D.[Ayurved]
[Strong supporter, believer, motivator, teacher & practitioner of Ayurveda]
Assistant professor, MES Ayurved Mahavidyalaya, Lote, Tal.-Khed, Dist.- Ratnagiri, Maharashtra &
Owner, Aarogyavardhan Ayurved & panchakarma Treatment Centre, Shop number-1, Sagar plaza, Chiplun
#omg amazing ayurved, #ayurved, #ayurveda history, #ayurved research, #ayurved reference, #correlation ayurved, #history of ayurved, #renal stone ayurved, #kidney stone ayurved
Comments