An Insight On Wabāi Amrād ( Epidemic Diseases)

Background and Objective: The World Health Organization has declared the COVID-19 as global pandemic on March 11, 2020. Hippocrates the father of medicine was supposedly the first ancient Unani physician to document the infectious diseases with their conspicuous clinical features which are today named as malaria, tuberculosis, influenza, mumps diphtheria etc. In Unani medicine, the epidemic diseases are referred to as Amrād-i-Wabāi. The present review has been embarked on to explore the Unani perspective into the scientific insight on epidemic diseases with the focus to unearth tangible information and solution to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: A total of 89 citations comprising classical Unani texts and published papers in various reputed indexed journals from 2005 to 2020 were reviewed about prevention and management of epidemic/ pandemic diseases; antiviral, antipyretic, antitussive, immunomodulators activities of Unani drugs etc. Results: Various measures such as isolation, social distancing; spray and fumigation treatment with Unani drugs for sanitization of the environment; modified diets such as barley water, murabba-i-turanj, sikanjbeen, vinegar etc to augment the immune system of the body; and pharmacotherapy such as Tiryaq-i-Afayee, QursKafoor, Sharbat-i-Khaksi, Khameera Marwareed, Cydonia oblonga, Ziziphus jujuba etc have been mentioned by Unani physicians for prevention and management of epidemic diseases and COVID like conditions. Discussion: Certain scientific studies have reported that the individual ingredients of Tiryaq-i-Afayee(a pharmacopoeial preparation) such as Aloe vera and Crocus sativus possess significant antiviral effect, and the whole preparation exhibited an immunomodulatory effect. Sharbat-i-Khaksi and Khameera Marwareed (pharmacopoeial preparations) revealed potent antipyretic and immune system potentiating effects, respectively. Cydonia oblonga and Ziziphus jujuba possesses antiviral, antiinfluenza, antitussive, antipyret