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Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005

IF YOU WANT to know why public health officials are so concerned about the possibility of an Avian Influenza outbreak, just learn a little about the 1918-1919 worldwide flu pandemic, called the Spanish Flu.

By one estimate, 5% of the world population was lost to this disease, which had the power to kill people from within six hours of the first onset of symptoms. Nearly one in five people suffered from the disease worldwide to some extent, according to Wikipedia (link below). In the United States, some 28% of the population suffered from Spanish Flu, and more than 500,000 died from it. There were reports of people falling off their horses dead, or dying walking down the street.

Entire ships of US soldiers returning from World War I were turned to "floating caskets." It was as deadly and more virulent than the bubonic plague.

It tended to attack the young and healthy rather than the old, very young or infirm.

And it was a disease over which the traditional medical profession had no power whatsoever.  But homeopathy, a branch of medicine founded by Samuel Hahnemann in the early 18th century, had close to complete success dealing with this disease. Homeopathy is uniquely suited to handle large outbreaks of virulent diseases in the population, both preventively on a large scale, when an acute case is developed, and within households and communities.

But at the time of the Spanish Flu, not everyone knew about homeopathy, and the new school of thought -- new, but based on ideas going back to Hippocrates (like cures like) -- was under attack by something called the American Medical Association (AMA), which had been founded about 75 years earlier specifically to deal with the business threat presented by homeopaths. To the current day, conventional doctors will tell you that homeopathy is absurd, a sham and pure quackery. But I assure you that no person making such a claim is homeopathically trained.

Business interests continue to dominate the medical field. Note carefully that George Bush's plan for dealing with an influenza outbreak consisted largely of giving billions to the pharmaceutical industry. Note also that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was the chairman of Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy "that's now the most-sought after drug in the world," in the apt words of Fortune magazine. His stock portfolio should be doing very well right now. The problem is that Tamiflu doesn't work against the strain of Avian Influenza that is now decimating bird populations, H5N1.

While this particular flu probably does not pass from human to human, it does not need much help to do so. If a person already infected with a transmittable form of human influenza also gets H5N1, then the human flu they carry can mutate into a disease as bad as H5N1 that people can get from one another. What is frightening to public health officials is that H5N1 has some chilling similarities with the Spanish Flu, including being passed from birds, how deadly it is, and the similar way that autopsied patients look like their lungs have exploded. It progresses from ordinary flu to pneumonia very rapidly. And few patients survive.

But with the right help, there is a very good chance that even the worst flu pandemic is both preventable in communities, and treatable in those who come down with it. Keep this in mind amidst the mild panic of the fear of a pandemic, or if something does come along that people start to get.

This is a large subject area, and I plan to devote time and resources to covering the issue; these are some introductory comments that I'll cover as a mini-series in the blog, and then develop in future articles.

The success of homeopathy in the Spanish Flu pandemic has been studied. But for obvious reasons you won't hear about the results many places.

A doctor named Dean W. A. Pearason of Philadelphia collected 26,975 cases of Spanish Flu treated by homeopaths, and determined that the mortality rate was 1.05%, "while the average old school mortality is 30%."

On two ships returning from Europe whose regiments were fortunate enough to have homeopaths as the physician, there were no outbreaks, just isolated cases. The remedy used was gelsemium simpervirens. Like any homeopathic remedy, you can purchase a bulk supply sufficient to treat a fairly large community for a few hundred dollars -- today.

There were other studies that indicated similar success rates for homeopathy. You can read about them here, in article by Julian Winston:

http://www.nesh.com/main/nejh/samples/winston.html

Now, every disease has individual properties, and that is what homeopathy studies in finding the right remedy. Gelsemium may or may not be the right remedy for whatever form of Avian Influenza may propagate -- if it does -- but once more is known about the symptomology, homeopaths will figure it out.

Hahnemann, in The Organon, his set of guidelines for homeopathy, said that "the strange, rare and particular should be foremost in the physician's mind" -- and that these unique properties are what give the clues to the right remedy. And homeopathy has more than 5,000 choices to work with, all of which are available at low cost today, and which can be manufactured quickly because the process for making the remedies is relatively simple.

So homeopathy is clearly not a "one size fits all" science. With this many remedies in the pharmacopia, there is always one or more that applies directly to any new situation that arises. Most of the highly effective remedies have been used for centuries, and as botanical preparations (herbs) before that.

The reason they don't know how to treat the disease today is that there have been very few human cases of H5N1, and since this strain apparently does not spread from human to human, the actual strain that would cause a pandemic is not known. Therefore, its specific symptoms are not known, such as how it progresses, the specific kinds of pain involved, the mental state of the patients, and many other factors -- and these are what homeopathy needs to make its prescription. Once known, this information can be distributed worldwide and used anywhere, if necessary.

Such was true during the outbreak of cholera in Europe in the 1830s, during Hahnemann's lifetime. He did not ever see a single case, but was able to prescribe a remedy that was effective at both curing and preventing the disease in Europe -- where his prescription was known and used.

However, according to Peter Gold of the National Institute for Homeopathy, the most likely remedy to work as a preventive until the specific remedy is known is called Influenzinum, which is a highly diluted form of the common flu -- a little like a homeopathic vaccination, but it's not poisonous. Homeopathy dilutes its remedies hundreds or thousands of times to eliminate the physical properties of the substance and keep only the energetic ones. It's a little like giving your aura a vaccine while leaving your body alone.

Influenzinum, he said, could be used as a preventive in the event of an outbreak in one's community, until the more specific remedy information becomes available. And you can keep a decent supply on hand for about $20 or less. If you order, you will be asked what potency you want. It's best to keep a variety of potencies on hand, such as 30CH, 200K and 1M. Then if and when the time comes, use the correct potency as recommended by a homeopath. These should all be available without a prescription. In the United States, many health food stores can get remedies, but often not above the 30CH potency. For that, it's necessary to go to a lab or special pharmacy (see below).

On this note, however, I highly suggest you look up the names of homeopathic practitioners in your area and get acquainted with one or two of them. If you can afford a consultation, it's a good idea to have one -- this way they know you personally and have a file on you. Homeopathic consultations, which are like a 45 minute interview, are usually fairly inexpensive compared to a five minute doctor visit.

Remedies are available in any pharmacy in France, at Nelson's Pharmacy in London, and in the United States from Hahnemann Labs in San Rafael (by phone or Internet order).

And we will develop this story and keep you posted as often as necessary. Till next time -- rest easy, because homeopathy can help.

Hahnemann Labs
http://www.hahnemannlabs.com/

National Institute for Homeopathy
http://www.homeopathic.org/

Wiki on Spanish Flu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Flu

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