Doctor struggled to diagnose a family member's disease, his 'elderly maid' did it in 10 seconds

Cyriac Abby Philips, also known as The Liver Doc, is popular for sharing his critical views of alternative medicine based on his research. (Image credit: Wikipedia)

A hepatologist in Kerala on Thursday shared how his elderly househelp managed to identify a disease that his family member had which the doctor himself had been struggling to diagnose.

Cyriac Abby Philips, popularly known as The Liver Doc on social media, said that he was frustrated when all the tests he carried out came back negative. "My adult family member had episodes of relentless low grade fever with chills and crippling fatigue and arthritis and a weird rash and I tested everything from viral hepatitis to covid-19 to influenza and dengue and Ebstein Barr Virus and nothing came back positive and it was frustrating," he wrote on X.

The doctor then resorted to looking through medical books when his househelp stepped in.

"My elderly maid comes in and tells me she has seen this rash in her grand children and it's called 'Anjaampani' in local languge (5th Disease) and I don't have to worry and got checked for Parvovirus B19 and it came positive," Dr Philips wrote."17 years of medical school and a Harrisons on my lap and my elderly maid got it in like 10 seconds."

Fifth disease, as described by Medline Plus, is caused by human parvovirus B19. It is more common among kids than adults. The disease spreads through the fluids in the nose and mouth when someone coughs or sneezes. It has a tell-tale bright-red rash on the cheeks. The rash also spreads to the body and can cause other symptoms.

When asked by an X user why Dr Philips did not consult a general practitioner (GP), he replied: "People do not understand that most times, nowadays, a 'GP' is not the GP that we expect these days. Half my time in outpatient is spend deprescribing medications unnecessarily given by so-called GPs and specialists. It is easy to virtue signal on social media, but reality is far different. For me, the maid's diagnosis was extremely valuable and I did not have to take a day off to see a 'GP'."

The Kerala-based senior doctor had earlier this year saved a man’s life on an Akasa Air flight from Kochi to Mumbai. He is also known to bust myths surrounding alternative medicine through his research.