ROLE OF UNANI MEDICINE IN THE PREVENTION OF CORONAVIRUS DISEASE-2019 (COVID-19): A REVIEW AND RESEARCH PERSPECTIVE

In December 2019 some patients with symptoms very much similar to SARS and MERS emerged in Wuhan city of China. In January 2020 a new type of coronavirus was isolated and name as 2019-nCoV, which later termed 'SARSCoV-2'. WHO declared the Covid-19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and on March 11, the epidemic was upgraded to the pandemic. As on 02.04.2020, 827,419 confirmed cases are officially reported in more than 200 countries or territories with 40,777 deaths. The history of epidemiology typically starts with 'Hippocrates' in about 400 BC; he in his valuable book, Of the Epidemics introduced several concepts of epidemiology. In Unani Classical texts, both epidemics and pandemics have been described under a common term 'Waba'. Unani medicine have described Nazla Haar by the name of Nazla-e-Wabaiya (epidemic influenza) which is characterized by body ache, sore throat, nasal irritation, burning sensation in eyes sneezing & cough, and fever. Unexplained general weakness is an early feature of Nazla-e-Wabaiya and the disease is often complicated by pneumonia and pleurisy, therefore, Nazla-e-Wabaiya (Nazla Haar) is very much similar to that of Covid-19. In such conditions Ibn Sina advised that houses should be sanitized daily by spraying different arqiyat, he recommended the use of Bukhoor(incense) of some anti-infective drugs. Zakariya Razi has prescribed several aromatic Unani drugs for prevention of Waba. For prophylaxis of epidemic diseases, Unani scholars also prescribed several drugs to augment the immunity (Quwwat-e-Mudabbira Badan). There is a long list of drugs suggested by Unani scholars to be used in different ways to combat epidemic and pandemic situations that need to be validated on current scientific parameters.