Amitabh Bachchan got liver cirrhosis from Coolie accident

Amitabh Bachchan says he suffers from liver cirrhosis even though he doesn't drink alcohol. The actor said he contracted the disease after his near fatal accident while shooting Coolie in 1982.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan Saturday revealed he suffers from liver cirrhosis even though he doesn't drink alcohol. The actor said he contracted the disease after his near fatal accident while shooting Coolie in 1982.

"Friends, relatives, well wishers and the workers and staff of our pharmaceutical factory, all lined up (to give blood). I lived. That was 1982, almost 28 years ago. But in and around the year 2000-2002, a routine investigation threw up a scenario which had hitherto gone undetected," the actor posted on his blog.

Amitabh met with the accident during one of the action scenes in the film Coolie. His surgery required a lot of blood. The urgency of its administration propelled several volunteers to come forward. Two hundred people donated blood and 60 bottles of blood were collected and injected in the actor. But, this caused the problem.

"Some of the blood from an unknown donor was infected with the Australian antigen Hepatitis. This particular infection or mode in a particular blood donor has the unique quality of getting active inside the system after lying dormant for a couple of months.

"It was also an unknown hepatitis in 1982 and there were, perhaps due to the urgency of the matter, no known immediate tests to ascertain its existence before it was administered. So it went into my system, festered and attacked my liver.

"Eight years ago, during the course of an MRI, they discovered that 25 per cent of my liver had been destroyed by it. I was, therefore, technically or shall we say in medical terminology, a patient by default. A patient that had developed cirrhosis of the liver - a condition that is normally associated with that of an alcoholic. So here I was, a non- alcoholic, a teetotaller, with an ailment that I imbibed through a blood transfusion from a donor," he added.

Because of this problem, the 67-year-old actor has to get himself monitored on a regular basis.

"Now since the liver and any ailment associated with it is extremely sensitive, I have to be under constant vigil and monitoring, to keep checking if there is any further damage taking place. A few days back my blood report showed a sudden rise in my liver counts and the doctor felt it necessary to investigate further through an MRI. For me, this is an every three month procedure," Amitabh said.