Amitabh Bachchan has liver cirrhosis and surviving on just 25 per cent of his liver

Amitabh Bachchan

Bollywood megastar of all time Amitabh Bachchan said in a press conference to launch a media campaign on Hepatitis B "I'm surviving on just 25 per cent of my liver. By the time doctors diagnosed me with Hepatitis B, 75 per cent of my liver was damaged." The conference was attended by health minister JP Nadda, Maharashtra's health minister Dr Deepak Sawant, and Unicef India's Louis Arsenault, among others. 

Hepatitis B is a virus transmitted disease and it gradually damages the liver and manifests only 15 to 18 years later as liver damage, showing up as abdominal pain, fatigue, weakness, fever and yellowing of skin and eyes.

Amitabh said how the virus attacked him. It was due to the accident during the shooting of the film Coolie, he received 60 bottles of blood from 200 donors, one of whom was carrying the virus. Amitabh further said  "At that time (in 1982), the Australian antigen of Hepatitis B had just been discovered and perhaps there was no sufficient screening for it to be detected in the donor's blood. I was carrying the virus that was slowly damaging my liver for 18 years before doctors diagnosed it in 2000, after which I began treatment and I continue to take medication even today."

It is a shocking news for Amitabh fans but it will also inspire the Hep B patients to fight against the disease.