Hypertension affects nearly 1.28 billion adults globally, it is a condition that can have different effects on your body. These effects range from elevated heart rate to severe damage to our body’s organs.

According to the World Health Organization, blood pressure is considered dangerous and high when the pressure levels in your blood range from 140/90 mmHg or higher. Interestingly, people with hypertension may often show symptoms and the only way to know is by checking your blood pressure. However, the effect of elevated blood pressure becomes apparent when different organs start getting affected by it.

You might know high blood pressure affects your heart, but it can also silently harm your eyes. The delicate blood vessels in your eyes are vulnerable to high pressure, and if left uncontrolled, this can lead to several conditions that cause vision loss. From damaging the retina's blood supply to harming the optic nerve, high blood pressure poses a significant risk to your sight. We spoke to Dr. Charu Dutt Arora, Geriatrics & Palliative Care physician, based in Delhi, as well as a member of Doctube, about hypertension and its unexpected effect on our vision.

Unexpected Side Effects of High Blood Pressure

Most people know high blood pressure is bad for the heart and can cause stroke. " Over time, it can quietly damage your kidneys, eyes, and even your brain without you realizing it" explained Dr. Dutt. Some people might feel tired all the time, have trouble sleeping, or have issues with intimacy, but they might not think it's related to their blood pressure. Older people might also get dizzy or fall more easily because of it.

How Does High Blood Pressure Affect Your Vision?

If your blood pressure stays high consistently, it can damage the tiny blood vessels in your eyes. This can lead to blurry vision, seeing spots (floaters), or even losing your vision permanently. People who've had high blood pressure for a long time or whose blood pressure isn't well-controlled are more likely to have these eye problems, according to Dr. Dutt, “People with long-standing or poorly controlled blood pressure are more likely to have these changes, especially if they don’t get regular eye check-ups. It’s something we often catch late—but it can be prevented with good control and timely screening.”

How Does Long-Term High Blood Pressure Impact Daily Life?

Dr. Dutt shares that high blood pressure doesn't just affect your health; it can change how you live every day. Many of my patients feel stressed or worried, especially when their blood pressure goes up and down or when they must take many different medicines. Some say they don't go out as much or travel because they feel too tired or must be careful about what they eat. “I've also seen older patients have problems with hearing, dizziness, or even memory. It's all connected. Dealing with a long-term illness like high blood pressure can also be hard emotionally and financially.”

Temporary vs. Permanent Vision Changes Due to High Blood Pressure

"Yes, it can cause temporary vision changes like blurriness or tunnel vision, especially during sudden spikes in blood pressure. These may settle once the blood pressure is under control. " Dr Dutt further explained how these changes might go away once your blood pressure is back to normal but if these spikes keep happening or if you ignore the symptoms, the damage to your eyes, especially the retina or the nerve that connects your eye to your brain, can become permanent. That's why it's so important to get your eyes checked regularly if you have high blood pressure.

How Are Screen Time and Vision Problems Linked To High BP

Looking at screens for too long isn't a direct cause of eye damage from high blood pressure, but it can make things worse. It can make your eyes tired, dry, and blurry, which can hide early signs of damage caused by high blood pressure. " Plus, if screen time affects your sleep (thanks to all that blue light), that can adversely affect your blood pressure control too. So yes, it’s something we should be mindful of, especially in patients who are already dealing with hypertension" So, it's something to be careful about, especially if you already have high blood pressure.

Dr. Dutt concluded that high blood pressure isn’t just limited to affecting your heart but affects many areas of one’s life. “With regular monitoring, the right treatment, and a healthy lifestyle, we can protect our visions as well as bodily health”

Hepatitis is not nicknamed the “silent killer” for nothing. What makes it so dangerous is how symptomless it often is for years. It can quietly chip away at your liver without so much as a warning sign. By the time symptoms like fatigue, jaundice, or abdominal pain appear, significant harm may already have occurred. This eerie silence allows hepatitis to go undetected until it has done some serious damage.

Just Because You Cannot Hear It Does Not Mean It Is Not There

Dr Vikram Vora says that hepatitis is a major global health threat, killing over a million people each year. What is even more tragic? These deaths are, in his words, “largely preventable”. The villains in this tale, cirrhosis and liver cancer, often stem from untreated or undiagnosed hepatitis infections.

Prevention Helps

“The cornerstone of hepatitis control is prevention,” Dr Vora says. And the good news is that you have got some powerful tools at your disposal. “Vaccination, especially against Hepatitis B, is one of the most effective tools available,” he says, adding that infants, healthcare workers, and at-risk adults should be prioritised. Other prevention measures include safe injection practices, steering clear of needle-sharing, and ensuring blood transfusions are properly screened.

But danger often hides in plain sight. Dr Vora warns that something as seemingly harmless as getting a tattoo or piercing can carry lifelong consequences if done in an unregulated facility. His advice? “Choosing safe, licensed establishments is non-negotiable.”

Why You Should Not Wait for Symptoms

If there is one thing hepatitis is good at, it is staying undetected. That is why Dr Vora champions regular screening, especially if you have had medical procedures, blood transfusions, or close contact with someone infected. “Early diagnosis is a game-changer,” he says. Caught in time, hepatitis can be treated effectively, helping patients avoid severe liver disease or even make a full recovery.

A Diagnosis Is Not a Death Sentence

Dr Vora offers hope to those living with hepatitis. “With proper medical care and lifestyle adjustments, a healthy life is achievable,” he insists. That means ditching alcohol, sticking to a balanced diet, maintaining a healthy weight, and closely following medical advice. He also points out the mental and emotional toll a diagnosis can take. “Support from family, community, and healthcare providers can make a significant difference in outcomes.”

The Stigma That Silences

Perhaps just as damaging as the virus itself is the social stigma surrounding it. Dr Vora identifies this as a major hurdle in tackling hepatitis. “Fear of social exclusion keeps many from seeking help,” he explains. And that delay can cost lives. According to him, building a culture of empathy and understanding is critical. He encourages public health campaigns, education, and open dialogue as essential tools to dismantle this stigma.

Make Noise Against the Silence

In Dr Vora’s words, “Hepatitis may be silent, but it is not invincible.” Every little step, whether it is getting vaccinated, getting screened, or just talking about it, can chip away at the power hepatitis holds. Silence has cost too many lives already. Awareness can save them.

If that viral video of a Gurugram woman being pounded by a pet husky dog for no reason scares you to death, you are not alone. Indian streets are turning into nightmares for people due to increasing dog bites. Reportedly, there is a sharp rise in dog bite cases, with over 3.7 million incidents and 54 confirmed human rabies deaths reported in 2024. The figures, compiled by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) under the National Rabies Control Programme, show the grim situation and growing public health challenge.

Deaths caused by rabies also witnessed a sharp increase during the period. And this trend threatens India’s target of eliminating rabies by 2030 under its National Rabies Control Programme. While the woman was recently attacked by a pet Husky dog during a morning walk on the Gulf Course Road, no one is safe, especially the kids and the elderly.

The stray dog menace is taking over the streets, and here is everything you need to know about rabies and how it spreads.

If you think rabies only spreads through a bite, think again. While dog bites are the most well-known cause of Rabies infection, the virus can also be transmitted through something as simple as a lick, especially if it comes into contact with broken skin, the eyes, nose, or mouth. This is not a rare exception; it is a recognised mode of transmission and one that can be fatal if ignored.

Not to spook you into avoiding every friendly tail-wagger in your lane, but it is time we stopped thinking of rabies as a “bite-only” infection. This deadly disease does not wait around for dog attacks. It can infect you quietly, undetected, and by the time symptoms show up, it is usually too late.

The Lick That Could Kill

Rabies is caused by a virus present in the saliva of infected animals. While bites are the most common way this virus enters the human body, they are not the only route. If an infected animal licks a cut, scrape, broken skin, or even your eyes, nose, or mouth, the virus can get in. That means even cuddly encounters with pets, if they are unvaccinated and infected, can be risky.

The scary part is that you do not always feel or notice the moment it happens. A small scratch from a street pup, or a wet doggy kiss on a chapped lip, may not register as dangerous. But if the animal is rabid, that is all the opportunity the virus needs.

Do Not Wait for Symptoms

Rabies is one of the few diseases with a 99.9 per cent fatality rate once symptoms appear. It starts off with flu-like signs: fever, fatigue, and maybe a horrendous headache. But things quickly escalate. You can suffer hallucinations, paralysis, seizures, hydrophobia and eventually coma.

Once the virus reaches your nervous system, modern medicine throws up its hands. There is no cure.

But rabies is 100 per cent preventable if treated in time.

What You Should Do Immediately

The moment you realise you have been licked, scratched, or bitten by an animal, especially one that is unvaccinated or unknown, drop everything and:

1. Wash the wound thoroughly with soap and running water for at least 15 minutes. This one step could significantly reduce your risk.

2. Apply antiseptic like iodine or alcohol.

3. Rush to a doctor; do not wait for swelling, itching or any other sign. You will need a post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) shot, which includes a course of anti-rabies vaccines and sometimes immunoglobulin injections.

4. Keep a record of the animal if possible. If it is someone’s pet, you will want to confirm their vaccination history.

Dogs Are Not the Only Issue

While dogs are responsible for 95 per cent of rabies cases in India, they are not the only suspects. Cats, monkeys, bats, and even cows can carry the virus. Basically, any warm-blooded mammal is fair game. So if a cheeky monkey in a temple town swipes at you, or a bat dive-bombs your balcony and leaves a scratch, take it seriously.

You do not need a bite to get rabies. You just need a moment of bad luck and a droplet of infected saliva. But that does not mean we need to start treating every dog badly. It just means we need to be alert, informed, and quick to act.

'Medical Memoir' is a Health & Me series that delves into some of the most intriguing medical histories and unveils how medical innovations have evolved over time. Here, we trace the early stages of all things health, whether a vaccine, a treatment, a pill, or a cure.

You think this is a history lesson, but let’s do some math. What does Hepato‑ (“liver”) + ‑tropic (“infecting and replicating in the liver”) + DNA (HBV genome) equal? That spells hepatitis—a mystery virus long misunderstood, long before COVID dominated headlines.

This isn’t just linguistic trivia. It’s a journey through centuries of medical detective work, flawless missteps, and public health triumphs—all centered on one family of viruses that quietly reshaped liver medicine and modern virology.

Early Clues in Jaundice and Contagion

Hepatitis didn’t appear on a microscope slide in the 20th century—it was described millennia earlier. Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates observed jaundice as a distinctive yellowing of skin and eyes. By the 8th century, medical writers suspected jaundice was contagious, hinting at an infectious agent at work in the liver.

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, dramatic epidemics of jaundice spread through soldiers and navies. Shared living quarters, contaminated water, and later, mass inoculation campaigns and reused syringes during wars linked the outbreaks to bloodborne transmission. By 1885, physicians recognized that transfused blood could carry the mysterious jaundice-causing pathogen. And when measles and yellow fever vaccinations during World War II triggered outbreaks, it became clear: an unseen virus replicated in bloodstreams—and in the liver.

This early history underscored two enduring facts: hepatitis came in different forms, and it was stealthy, delayed, and extremely hard to track.

Naming a Virus in Two Parts

By mid-century, researchers sought to categorize the illness. In 1947, MacCallum introduced a dual classification that would shape all future work: Viral Hepatitis A (infectious, via contaminated food or water) and Viral Hepatitis B (serum-borne, via blood and body fluids). That breakthrough turned a single symptom—jaundice—into a family of diseases with different transmission pathways and prevention needs.

Modern hepatitis history truly began in the 1960s. In 1963, Baruch Blumberg identified the Australia antigen (HBsAg) in Aboriginal Australians and hemophiliac blood donors using immunologic screening. It was the first direct marker for Hepatitis B virus, revealing a virus that lay dormant in carriers, often for decades.

The story advanced quickly:

1970 – The Dane particle (complete HBV virus) was visualized, proving the viral identity.

Early 1970s – Researchers described the HBeAg, another disease marker.

1973 – Hepatitis A virus (HAV) was isolated, confirming two different viruses.

Suddenly, hepatitis was no longer a vague syndrome—it was a family of identifiable pathogens. That scientific clarity laid the foundation for prevention and treatment.

Finding a Cure Before HCV With Plasma‑Derived Vaccines

The early HBV vaccine story is unique. Developed from human plasma, it became the first vaccine not produced via tissue culture, licensed under the name Heptavax in 1981. That innovation paved the way for recombinant vaccines, but the achievement stood alone for a time. Taiwan’s national HBV vaccination program, launched in 1984, offered powerful proof of impact:

HBV carrier rate dropped from 9.1% to 2.7% among children.

Rates of pediatric hepatocellular carcinoma plummeted from 27% to 17%.

Effectively, this was the world’s first anti-cancer vaccine. The vaccine didn’t just stop liver infection—it significantly reduced childhood liver cancers in real populations.

The C Virus and the Molecular Breakthrough of 1989

In 1989, the hepatitis world shifted again. A team led by Choo, Kuo, and Houghton unveiled Hepatitis C virus (HCV) using molecular cloning techniques—no tissue culture, electron microscope, or serology required. It was the first virus discovered solely via genetic methods.

That breakthrough explained persistent post‑transfusion hepatitis cases, intravenous drug-user outbreaks, and a heavy burden of global liver disease. It was the start of a new era: molecular virology, where pathogens were identified by their RNA alone.

Soon came discoveries of HDV (delta virus), HEV, and GBV‑C/HGV (hepatitis G virus). This growing catalog of viral types clarified why hepatitis symptoms varied and why prevention needed multiple strategies.

From Unproven Remedies to Modern Antivirals

Mid-20th-century treatment was often worse than the disease: prolonged bed rest and steroids were used for acute hepatitis until controlled trials in the ’60s showed they caused harm. In chronic cases, steroids lingered until the 1980s, when researchers clearly proved they worsened outcomes.

By the early 1990s, interferon alpha offered the first real antiviral option. In 1998, lamivudine appeared, followed by more potent nucleoside analogues in the 2000s. For chronic HBV, these drugs allowed suppression of the virus with daily pills—a huge leap in quality of life. HCV treatment advanced spectacularly:

• Pegylated interferon plus ribavirin drove cure rates into the 40–60% range.
• Protease inhibitors like boceprevir and telaprevir added another 30%+ success.
• By the 2010s, direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) offered cure rates above 85–90% within a few months, without interferon.
• Chronic HCV became the only curable chronic viral infection—a feat comparable in scope to eradication campaigns for smallpox or polio.

Globally today, over 300 million people live with chronic HBV or HCV and over 1.3 million die annually from liver cirrhosis, cancer, or hepatitis complications.

In response, the World Health Organization’s 2022–2030 strategy aims to reduce new infections by 90% and deaths by 65%. It underscores the urgent need for universal vaccinations, access to testing, and treatment—especially in low-income settings across Asia and Africa, without coordinated action, projections warn:

• 9.5 million new infections,
• 2.1 million liver cancer cases,
• 2.8 million deaths by 2030.

Yet history offers reason for optimism: the leaps science made over just a few decades show what’s possible—with political will, investment, and global partnerships.

HBV opened new pathology understanding by linking to polyarteritis nodosa. HCV revealed risks beyond the liver: cryoglobulinemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, metabolic disorders like Type II diabetes, and altered lipid profiles. Hepatitis viruses reshaped fields ranging from rheumatology to oncology.

The discoveries required collaboration—and some competition—across labs and continents. The story of hepatitis is one of scientific rivalry, teamwork, serendipity, and intellectual persistence. That blend of curiosity and rigor transformed a family of mysterious illnesses into preventable and treatable diseases.

Long before COVID captured global focus—before masks, PCR tests, and lockdowns—hepatitis was a mystery virus that haunted generations. It caused jaundice, silent liver failure, and cancer. It eluded diagnosis, lacked vaccines, and spread undetected.

Yet through a combination of linguistic insight, molecular science, epidemiology, and public health action, the world unraveled its secrets—one virus at a time.

Today, hepatitis is no longer an invisible threat. It's a medical triumph—because when science is patient, and public health persistent, even the most elusive pathogens can be conquered. The story isn't over, but it's a testament to what decades of dedication and discovery can achieve.