An Epidemic (derived from Greek words epi "upon or above" and demos "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of people in a given population within a short period of time. Epidemic diseases are the scourge of human civilization. Time and again survival of human societies has been threatened by epidemics- be it plague, small pox, cholera, yellow fever or flu. The Plague Epidemic in Europe during the Late Middle Ages was known as Black Death and was estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe's population about 75–200 million people. The Cocoliztli Epidemic of 1545–1548 killed about 5–8 million (40% of population) of Mexico. The 1918 Spanish flu, infected 500 million people – about a third of the world's population at the time. Controlling these epidemics has always been a challenge for the public health system owing to their sudden and rapid progression.
Homeopathy has been used to successfully treat Epidemics since the time of Hahnemann. The earliest documented reference (other than use of Belladona in scarlet fever-1801) is of Typhus fever epidemic (1813) in Germany wherein conventional treatment had mortality rate over 30% and Dr. Hahnemann lost only 2 cases out of 180. In 1831 Cholera Epidemic of Europe mortality rate under conventional treatment was around 40-80% while Homeopathic hospitals were reporting just 7-10% death cases. During Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1850 mortality under allopathic treatment was between 15-85% and as recorded under Homeopathic care was between 5-7%. About the Influenza pandemic of 1918, Dr. McCann from Dayton, Ohio reported that 24,000 cases of flu treated allopathically had a mortality rate of 28.2% while 26,000 cases of flu treated homeopathically had a mortality rate of 1.05%.
The above data shows the effectiveness of Homeopathy in treating Epidemics. Other than treatment Homeopathic medicines are also effective as prophylactics i.e. Homeopathic prophylaxis or homeoprophylaxis. History is brimming with reviews of positive effects of Homeopathic medicine in epidemics throughout the world. Be it Spanish flu, leptospirosis, Chikungunya or Japanese encephalitis Homeoprophylaxis has definitely given positive outcome.
Homeopathy has developed three methods of homeo-prophylaxis – constitutional remedies, the use of nosodes and the genus epidemicus. Through the use of constitutional remedies predisposition to disease is removed making us immune to prevailing epidemic. In the Nosode method, a nosode of 'threatening miasm' is given as preventive of same disease. The third method or the use of genus epidemicus remedies (as given in aphorisms 100 to 103 of Organon) is effective in preventing, aborting and treating the targeted miasm. Genus epidemicus remedies are specific remedies chosen for protection against targeted infectious diseases.
Homeopaths have conducted many Research trials to test the effectiveness of Constitutional and Specific prophylaxis with mixed results. The key to good Homeoprophylaxis lies in knowing when to use which method and we must be proud to know that our literatures are full of such evidence based researches. The only shortcoming is lack of proper documented research reviews and analytical papers.
As the world is bracing itself for the mysterious COVID-19 and the medical community is exploring every possible solution in prevention or treatment of the pandemic and seeing the rich contribution of Homeopathy to epidemic control all around the world.
We present to you the May Issue of Homeopathic Horizon Ezine on Conquering Epidemics by Homeopathy. In this Issue we share with you all Gems of articles about effectiveness of homeopathy in dealing with epidemics of past, present and future.
In this Issue we have paper of Dr. Marcus Zulian Teixeira on "Homeopathy: a preventive approach to medicine" which is a complete article on how Hahnemann's homeopathy serves as a preventive medical approach and the minimum requirements to employ it both therapeutically and preventively in epidemic. Next is the paper of Dr. Jennifer Jacobs on "Homeopathic Prevention and Management of Epidemic Diseases". This article explores the clinical evidences for different strategies used to treat Epidemics in Homeopathy i.e. individualization, combination remedies, genus epidemicus, and isopathy. We also have a paper on specifically GE, "Genus Epidemicus: Research Review" by Dr. Partha Pratim Pal. This paper gives an evidence based review of how specific prophylaxis has effectively controlled epidemics and the Hahnemannian method to choose Genus epidemicus for a particular epidemic. We have also included Research papers on clinical trials to share the evidence based studies on Homeoprophylaxis. The "Homoeopathic Genus Epidemicus 'Bryonia alba' as a prophylactic during an outbreak of Chikungunya in India: A cluster randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial" by Dr. K.R Janardanan Nair et al is a marvel in itself. This study effectively shows the use of Bryonia alba 30C as preventive for Chikungunya during its epidemic outbreak in Kerela. This paper also affirms that Genus epidemicus need not be the same for epidemic diseases, it may vary in two different localities and at two different phases/time of the same epidemic. Next is "Changes in viral load in different organs of Japanese Encephalitis virus-infected chick embryo under the influence of Belladonna 200C" by Dr. Satadal Das et al. The experimental study shows that pre-treatment of Belladonna 200C reduced the severity of Japanese encephalitis by diminishing the viral loads in brain and also reduced the pathological sequel of the disease. Following it we present "Homoeopathic Treatment of Japanese Encephalitis In The Light Of Recent Scientific Progress" by Dr. Milan Sengupta et al. This paper explores the use of homeopathy medicines to treat the Japanese Encephalitis virus infection according to severity of disease (JE) stratified in different stages. After discussing the epidemics of the past which are the greatest example of effectiveness of Homeopathy we move to the present scenario of Covid 19 pandemic and how it is essential for public health to understand how to prevent, abort and treat Epidemic diseases. In this section we have Dr. Harry van der Zee's article on "The Future of Homeopathy, homeopathy for Epidemics, collective trauma and endemic diseases". This article discusses how by learning from our past experiences we can deal with the present and future epidemics. The paper also discusses the present pandemic of COVID -19 and how Source Resonance can be used to Boost Immunity against it. Then we have a complete Research protocol on Covid-19 by Dr. Marcus Zulian Teixeira, "Clinical research protocol to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of individualized homeopathic medicine in the treatment and prevention of the COVID-19 epidemic". This paper presents a protocol with the objective of investigating, in a randomized, double-blind and placebo- controlled clinical trial, the effectiveness and safety of possible individualized homeopathic drugs of epidemic genus of COVID-19, in adjuvant and complementary treatment of patients affected by the disease. Following it we have Dr. Ajit Kulkarni's Interview on Covid-19 pandemic where he answers all questions on COVID-19 Pandemic and its homeopathic approach, "Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) Outbreak and Homeopathic Perspective". Analysis based on the pathology, course of the disease, miasmatic influences and likely remedies for prophylaxis and treatment are also discussed in it. Concluding the Issue without Dr. Hahnemann's directions on Epidemic diseases would have been incomplete so we have included Historical paper of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann "Cure and Prevention of Scarlet Fever". Thus by presenting the issue we have tried to sum up in a single space all the information you can read, absorb and analyze to assess the effectiveness of Homeopathy in Epidemics of present and future.
So here dear readers I present to you the May Issue of Homeopathic Horizon Ezine on "Conquering Epidemics by Homeopathy". We hope that it will help to prepare you in your fight with the present epidemic. We also request you to send your feedbacks at mail@homeorizon.com to help us improvise our endeavors.
