Nawal Kishore Agarwal, M.D., Ph.D., M.A.G.S. (U.S.A.)

and

Vena Agrawal, M.D.,

Department of Physiology, S.N. Medical College, Agra, U.P.

Smoking is a public health problem. Although "Smoking is injurious to health" is mentioned on every packet of cigarettes, their use is increasing day by day.

The hazards of smoking are also known to the individuals, including its carcinogenic effects, but in the beginning only respiratory problems dominate in most of the subjects.

In the recent past, a few reports have appeared on the role of Septilin, an Ayurvedic drug, as an ant-infective and anti-bacterial agent. Motwani and Joshi (1982) tried Septilin in many acute and chronic infections since 1976 and found overall good results. Ross (1980) in his extensive study found that Septilin offers a broad spectrum control in eradicating recurrent and chronic upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) and dental infections.

Following such results, the present study was undertaken to find out the role of Septilin as a prophylactic agent against chronic respiratory infections in smokers.

Twenty-five healthy males working in the S.N. Medical College, Agra, were included in this study. These subjects were smokers for the last one to ten years.

Smoking habit: The number of cigarettes/bidis smoked daily was noted in detail. Clinical examination was carried out in all the subjects before the study. Respiratory function tests, vital capacity and its components were measure in such subjects. Septilin was then administered in dosages of 2 tabs. t.i.d. for one month. All the subjects were called again after one month and respiratory functions were measured again. The significance of the observations was calculated by the `t’ test.

The 25 healthy males, who were smoking for more than a year, were in the age-group of 22-46 years. Three subjects were smoking for less than 5 years and the remaining 22 more than 5 years. Twenty-four percent of the subjects were smoking less than 10 bidis/cigarattes/day, while 76% were smoking more than 10 cigarettes/day (Table 1).

Table 2 shows details of the respiratory function tests carried out—Vital Capacity, Tidal Volume, Inspiratory Reserve Volume and Expiratory Reserve Volume before and after treatment. All the components of vital capacity were found to have improved after one month (p<.05).

Fifty-two percent of the smokers reported good and fair response in their clinical and respiratory functions assessment (Table 3).

Septilin is a herbal remedy having proven therapeutic agents such as Guggul, Shankh bhasma, Maharasnadi quath and other extracts of herbs.

Septilin contains antibacterial and anti-inflammatory plant principles known to be effective in chronic stubborn infections of the upper respiratory tract (Agarwal, 1980; Das, 1980), rheumatic (Erana, 1978) and septic conditions of diverse aetiology and intractable dermatoses (Behl, 1978 and Chandra, 1982).

In this study, Septilin was tried as a prophylactic agent against uppper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in chronic smokers. Seventy-six percent of the subjects were smoking more than 5 years at the rate of over 10 cigarettes/bidis/day. 72% were having symptoms of chronic URTI and dyspnoea on exertion.

Fifty-two percent cases got symptomatic relief. Chronic persistent cough and passing of sputum in the morning was specially relieved. Respiratory function assessments gave encouraging results. The vital capacity improved in such individuals after the use of Septilin.

Behl (1978) found that this drug has marked anti-inflammatory activity and inhibits the growth of bacteria. It stimulates the phagocytes to ingest the bacteria. Thus it reduces inflammation, controls exudates and inhibits the growth of micro-organisms.

The present study was preliminary and thus the possible action of Septilin could not be established. However, tentatively it seems that these individuals, who were chronic smokers, benefitted by the simultaneous use of Septilin. In the long run its use may prevent the hazards of smoking.

A more detailed study is required to assess the exact role of Septilin in smokers.

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