Clinical Evaluation of Shilajatu Rasayana in patients with HIV Infection

AIDS is one of the serious global health concerns caused by Human Immuno Deficiency(HIV) virus and is predominantly a sexually transmitted disease. Currently there is no vaccine or cure for AIDS still Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) is successful. It reduces both the mortality and the morbidity of HIV infection, but is expensive and inaccessible in many countries. However intense the therapy may be, HIV virus is rarely eliminated, and drug resistance is a major setback during long-term therapy. The development of new drugs and strategies and exploring alternative systems of medicine for antiviral herbs or drugs is the need of the age to improve treatment outcomes. Ayurveda describes many diseases which incorporate HIV like illness e.g. Rajayakshma, Ojo Kshaya, Sannipata jwara etc. HIV infection affects multisystems, chiefly the Immune System which can be correlated to Ojo Kshaya. Rasayana Chikitsa is the frontline therapy employed to treat Ojus disorders. Therefore Shilajatu (Mineral pitch), Centella asiatica (Mandukaparni), Tinospora cordifolia (Guduchi) and Emblica officinalis (Amalaki), well known for their Immuno-modulator and antioxidant properties were selected to evaluate their role on immune system. The study was carried on 20 patients from OPD and IPD of Kayachikitsa, S.S.Hospital, IMS, BHU and was randomly allocated into Treated group (Shilajatu+ART) and Control group (ART). Treated Group responded better to ART both clinically and biochemically. The results show that Shilajatu decreases the recurrent resistance of HIV virus to ART and improves the outcome of the therapy