Homeopathy in Pandemic and Epidemic

1813 Typhus Fever 

The 1813 typhus epidemic followed in the wake of Napoleon’s march through Germany to attack Russia – followed by his calmitous retreat. When the epidemic hit Leipzig, Hahnemann treated 180 people and lost only 2 (less than 1%) – Allopathic mortality rates were >30% Prompt treatment of the disease with antibiotics reduces the mortality rate to approximately 1%. When untreated, typhoid fever usually lasts for three weeks to a month. Death occurs in between 10% and 30% of untreated cases.

1831 Cholera Epidemic 

Dr Quin reported that the death in 10 homeopathic hospitals were 9% Deaths under homeopathic treatment in Russia were <10% (Admiral Mordoinow) Deaths under homeopathic care in Bavaria (Dr Roth reported) 7%

1831 Cholera Epidemic  Austria

Dr Wild – an allopathic physician ‐ in the Dublin Quarterly Journal and “on account of this extraordinary result, the law interdicting the practice of homeopathy in Austria was repealed”

1854 Cholera Epidemic  ‐ London

Historically important epidemic ‐ it was the first time a disease outbreak was traced to a particular source – in this case a public water pump. The pump was closed & epidemic ceased. All in all 10,738 people died. The House of Commons requested a report regarding the various methods of treating the epidemic. When the report was issued, no homeopathic figures were included. The House of Lords requested an explanation, and it was admitted that if the homeopathic figures were to be included in the report, it would "skew the results’ so it was suppressed. Upon examination, the buried report revealed that under allopathic care the mortality was 59.2% while under homeopathic care mortality was only 9%

 1855 Cholera Epidemic  ‐ Rio

388 cases were treated with homeopathy with a 2% death rate, while the allopathic infirmary had a 40‐60% death rate. In 1878, Saturnino de Meirelles and others re‐created the old Instituto Homeopatico do Brasil and in 1880, they changed the name to Instituto Hahnemanniano do Brazil, which still exists. Homeopathy appears to be thriving in Brazil and is an important part of national health care inititives.

1892 Cholera Epidemic ‐ Hamburg

In the 1892 outbreak in Hamburg, Germany, about 8,600 people died. Although the city government was generally deemed to be responsible for this outbreak – their policies went largely unchanged. This was the last serious European cholera outbreak.

Yellow Fever Epidemic

Memphis, Tennessee: 1878 The worst yellow fever epidemic in U.S. history occurred in 1878, with over 5,000 deaths in Memphis alone and 20,000 deaths in the whole of the Mississippi Valley. Various yellow fever epidemics raged throughout the Deep South throughout the mid to late 19th century.

From President's Address of Dr. A. L. Monroe of Louisville, Kentucky, given 8 PM Friday evening, December 10, 1886, at the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Southern Homeopathic Medical Association “Yellow fever statistics showing average proportion of death losses during yellow fever epidemic of 1878 in Southern United States. These statistics represent the mean average of losses as calculated by a commission of yellow fever experts visiting the infected districts immediately after the epidemic: Allopathic, 15.50 per cent; homeopathic, 6 per cent. Here we have a mass of statistics compiled by careful, conscientious workers, representing in the aggregate of at least 1,000,000 prescriptions given to 500,000 patients, and the work extending over a term of years of practice of at least 1000 physicians of each school .”

Smallpox 

Allopathic Av. Loss Homeopathic Av. Loss Boston, 1870, '71 and '72 1735 885 New York,1870 and '71 1576 848 Philadelphia,'70, '71 1903 1287 New York ‘72, '73 2046 1124 Brooklyn ’72, '73 2280 1028 General average 1908 1034 From President's Address of Dr. A. L. Monroe of Louisville, Kentucky, given 8 PM Friday evening, December 10, 1886, at the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Southern Homeopathic Medical Association “The first set I desire to present to your notice was compiled by a reputable life Insurance company in 1874, from the death reports of the cities of Boston for 1870, 1871 and 1872; Philadelphia for 1872, the year of the great epidemic of small-pox there; Newark for 1872 and 1873. The table presents the average death loss to number of patients treated during that time by the representatives of the two great schools of medicine.”

1862 ‐ 1864 Diphtheria – 
In the records of three years of Diphtheria in Broome County, NY from 1862 to 1864, there was a report of an 83.6% mortality rate among the allopaths and a 16.4% mortality rate among the homeopaths. (Bradford) Diphtheria was difficult to treat as despite its periodicity, it rarely had the same presentation. Practitioners needed to be able to quickly prescribe on an individual by individual basis. Occasionally, the disease would throw up particularly definite symptoms thus enabling the practitioner to prescribe a genus epidemicus.

1918 Spanish Flu 

Dr. T A 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 homoeopathically had a mortality rate of 1.05%. This last figure was echoed and endorsed by Dr Dean W.A. Pearson of Philadelphia (Hahnemann College) who recorded 26,795 cases of flu treated with homeopathy with the above result.

Dr Herbert Roberts from Derby Connecticut requested mortality/survival data from medical colleagues in his area. 30 doctors responded. They reported 6,602 cases of H5N1 had been treated with homeopathy with 55 deaths – this is less than 1%. • Dr Roberts worked on a troop carrier ship in WW1. On the way over to Europe he had 81 cases of H5N1. “All recovered and were landed. Every man received homeopathic treatment. One ship lost 31 (not homeopathically treated) on the way.”
Scarlet Fever
Homeopathic Prophylaxis: It began with Scarlet Fever Hahnemann’s initial foray into preventative use of remedies was the result of inductive genius. During an outbreak of scarlet fever, three children of four in a family under his care became ill. The fourth, who was usually the first to become ill, remained free from disease. Hahnemann reasoned that since the child had been taking Belladonna for an problem with her finger joints, she was in some way protected from the infection. Soon afterward, in a family of eight children with three already infected with scarlet fever, Hahnemann seized the opportunity to test the prophylactic powers of Belladonna. As he had hypothesized, all five escaped the disease despite ongoing exposure to their siblings. Hahnemann continued to make frequent use of Belladonna during scarlet fever epidemics with great success

Homeopathic Prophylaxis Adopted: More on Scarlet Fever So great was Hahnemann’s success that many allopathic physicians adopted his treatment protocol and began singing the praises of homeopathic Belladonna. Dudgeon (1820 – 1904) reports on ten allopaths of this time who used prophylactic Belladonna on 1646 children and only 123 cases developed. These were excellent results when the attack rates were ranging as high as 90% at the time. Hufeland, the great Protomedicus of Prussia at the time, reviewed all the results of the prophylactic use of Belladonna for scarlet fever. It is generally felt that Hufeland’s subsequent declaration of its efficacy would be akin to the Surgeon General of the United States recommending the use of homeopathy in the treatment of AIDS today.

Hufeland’s support of Belladonna as a prophylactic carried so much weight that the Prussian government made its use during scarlet fever epidemics obligatory in 1838.
1902 Smallpox
Homeopathic Prophylaxis: Smallpox Studies during smallpox epidemics have also given some valuable information. In 1902, during a smallpox epidemic in Iowa, Dr. Eaton reported that 2806 patients were treated prophylactically with Variolinum. Of the 547 patients who were definitely exposed, only 14 developed the disease. Overall protection rate was 97%

1974 Meningitis Prophylaxis •

 And in 1974, during a meningococcus outbreak in Brazil, 18,640 patients were given Meningococcinum prophylaxis while 6,430 received no treatment. The treatment group reported 4 cases. There were 32 cases in the no treatment group (23 times more effective than no treatment).(Ref. British Medical Journal, 1987:294‐6)

1850 Polio Prophylaxis 

With regard to polio, in 1850 Taylor Smith in Johannesburg, South Africa used the nosode Lathyrus to protect 82 people against polio – no cases were reported. Arthur Hill Grimmer MD reported that over 5,000 children received homeopathic Lathyrus sativa to prevent polio with 100% efficacy and no one experienced any side effects to his knowledge. There are reports of Heisfelder, in a study between 1956-58, homeopathically ‘vaccinated’ over 6,000 children with Lathyrus, none of which contracted polio. In 1975, Lathyrus was given to 30,000 – 40,000 (the number varies depending on the researcher reporting) individuals during a Buenos Aires polio epidemic, and not one of these patients reported contracting polio. (Reported by Eizayaga)

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