A Pilot Trial of Jawarish Amla as Adjuvant to Anti-Tubercular Treatment Drugs for Control of Adverse Reactions in DOTS Regime in Pulmonary TB.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: One of the greatest challenges of health care systems at the dawn of the 21st century is tuberculosis (TB). Drug resistant strains of TB are becoming a global public health risk. These strains commonly appear due to faulty therapies. Patients frequently stop treatment due to the toxicity of anti-tubercular treatment (ATT) drugs. Amla (Emblica officinalis) is a well-known Unani single drug. Jawarish amla is a Unani compound formulation which is commonly used to administer amla. This study tested the efficacy of Jawarish amla as an adjuvant to ATT drugs in reducing their side effects. METHODOLOGY: Half of forty eligible pulmonary tuberculosis patients were randomly assigned to Test (Group B) and the other half to Control (Group A). Six grams of Jawarish amla twice daily was administered to the test group, and the same dosage of placebo was administered to control group along with directly observed treatment, short course chemotherapy (DOTS) for 60 days. Fisher exact test and paired t-test were applied for efficacy evaluation. Grading of symptoms was done to assess the toxicity of ATT and outcome of the adjuvant. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Significant improvements were observed in almost all subjective and objective parameters. The exceptions were serum creatine and serum uric acid, which showed non-significant slight elevations within normal limits. CONCLUSION: Jawarish amla was ascertained to be safe and effective adjuvant of DOTS in combating the adverse effects of ATT drugs.

Prevalence of malaria, dengue, and chikungunya significantly associated with mosquito breeding sites.

OBJECTIVES: To observe the prevalence of malaria, dengue, and chikungunya and their association with mosquito breeding sites. METHODS: The study was observational and analytical. A total of 162 houses and 670 subjects were observed during the study period. One hundred forty-two febrile patients were eligible for the study. After obtaining informed consent from all febrile patients, 140 blood samples were collected to diagnose malaria, dengue, and chikungunya. Larval samples were collected by the standard protocol that follows. Correlation of data was performed by Pearson correlation test. RESULTS: Forty-seven blood samples were found positive: 33 for chikungunya, 3 for dengue, and 11 for malaria. Fifty-one out of 224 larval samples were found positive. Out of the 51 positive samples, 37 were positive for Aedes, 12 were positive for Anopheles, and two were positive for Culex larvae. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION: Mosquito-borne fevers, especially malaria, dengue, and chikungunya, have shown a significant relationship with mosquito breeding sites.