My father's early childhood disease mystery?

Question

My father told me about a disease/virus he had when he was about 6 years old in Pakistan. This was about 45 years ago. The doctors back then had no idea what the sickness was, but it lasted for many years.

Symptoms:

Extreme weakness,

Darkening/yellowing of the skin

Skin became wrinkley

He couldnt move much and had back pains

Diarrhea,

Long term fever.

He finally recovered completely from this about 5 years later. I was thinking it might be Yellow fever, but I'm not sure if it lasts for that long. Also this was in Pakistan about 45 years ago. He nearly died from it, and the doctors said that he didn't have that much time.

I'm not familiar with too many diseases; I'm hoping someone out there might aid us in search of what disease he had. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

I actually know a case very similar to this. It sounds textbook like a Hepatitis infection, particularly Hep B, which can resolve itself spontaneously. It causes all of those symptoms, and the yellowing of the skin would correspond to jaundice - hepatitis attacks the liver.

There was no way to test for any of the hepatitis viruses until the 80s, nor any medicine to treat them. A former roommate's mother was infected with this from a blood transfusion in the 60s, and they simply had no idea what it was. These days, we know. Your father's story sounds textbook, identical to the one I'm personally familiar with.