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Some
history of the treatment of epidemics with homeopathy
by Julian Winston
From
its earliest days, homeopathy has been able to treat epidemic
diseases with a substantial rate of success, when compared
to conventional treatments. It was these successes that placed
the practice of homeopathy so firmly in the consciousness
of people world-wide.
There
is a story told about Joseph Pulte, one of the earliest homeopaths
in Cincinnati. When he began his practice, many people were
so angered by a homeopath being in town that they pelted the
house with eggs. He was becoming discouraged enough to think
of leaving. His wife said, "Joseph, do you believe in the
truth of homeopathy?" He replied in the affirmative. "Then,"
she said, "you will stay in Cincinnati."
Shortly
after, when the Cholera epidemic swept through, Pulte was
able to boast of not having lost a single patient-- and he
was accepted into the community. In the Epidemic of 1849,
people crowded to his door and stood in the street because
the waiting room was full.
In
1900, Thomas Lindsley Bradford, MD, wrote a book called "The
Logic of Figures" in which he collected the statistics he
could find that would compare the conventional therapeutics
with homeopathic ones. Many of the figures cited below are
derived from Bradford's work.
One
of the earliest tests of the homeopathic system was in the
treatment of Typhus Fever (spread by lice) in an 1813 an epidemic
which followed the devastation of Napoleon's army marching
through Germany to attack Russia, followed by their retreat.
When the epidemic came through Leipzig as the army pulled
back from the east, Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy,
was able to treat 180 cases of Typhus-- losing but two. This,
at a time when the conventional treatments were having a mortality
rate of over 30%.
In
1830 as the cholera epidemic was reported coming from the
east, Hahnemann was able to identify the stages of the illness,
and predict what remedies would be needed for which stages.
When Cholera finally struck Europe in 1831 the mortality rate
(under conventional treatment) was between 40% (Imperial Council
of Russia) to 80% (Osler's Practice of Medicine). Out of five
people who contracted Cholera, two to four of them died under
regular treatment. Dr. Quin, in London, reported the mortality
in the ten homeopathic hospitals in 1831-32 as 9%; Dr. Roth,
physician to the king of Bavaria, reported that under homeopathic
care the mortality was 7%; Admiral Mordoinow of the Imperial
Russian Council reported 10% mortality under homeopathy; and
Dr. Wild, Allopathic editor of Dublin Quarterly Journal, reported
in Austria, the Allopathic mortality was 66% and the homeopathic
mortality was 33% "and on account of this extraordinary result,
the law interdicting the practice of Homeopathy in Austria
was repealed."
Homeopathy
continued to be effective in the treatment of Epidemic Cholera.
In 1854 a Cholera Epidemic struck London. This was a historically
important epidemic in that it was the first time the medical
community was able to trace the outbreak to a source (a public
water pump), and when the pump was closed, the epidemic soon
ceased.
The
House of Commons asked for a report about the various methods
of treating the epidemic. When the report was issued, the
homeopathic figures were not included. The House of Lords
asked for an explanation, and it was admitted that if the
homeopathic figures were to be included in the report, it
would "skew the results." The suppressed report revealed that
under allopathic care the mortality was 59.2% while under
homeopathic care the mortality was only 9%. It is hard today
to comprehend what kind of scourge such an epidemic was. As
was seen in the later Flu Epidemic of 1918, one could be healthy
in the morning and be dead by evening-- it moved that rapidly.
Many books were written about the Homeopathic treatment of
Cholera during these times, among them: Cholera and its Homeopathic
treatment, F. Humphreys (1849); Homeopathic Treatment of Cholera,
B. F. Joslin (1854); Homeopathic Domestic Treatment of Cholera,
Biegler (1858); Epidemic Cholera, B. F. Joslin (1885); Asiatic
Cholera, Jabez Dake (1886).
The success
of homeopathic treatment continued with the later cholera
epidemics. In the Hamburg epidemic of 1892, allopathic mortality
was 42%, homeopathic mortality was 15.5%
During
the 1850s, there were several epidemics of Yellow Fever in
the southern states. This disease was eventually found to
be transmitted by mosquito. Osler, says that the allopathic
mortality from Yellow Fever is between 15-85%. Holcome, a
homeopath, reported in 1853 a mortality of 6.43% in Natchez,
and Dr. Davis, another homeopath in Natchez, reported 5.73%.
In 1878 the mortality in New Orleans was 50% under allopathic
care, and 5.6% (in 1,945 cases in the same epidemic) with
homeopathic care.
The two best books on this topic were: Yellow Fever and its
Homeopathic Treatment, Holcome, (1856) and The Efficacy of
Crotalus Horridus in Yellow Fever, C. Neidhard, (1860).
Another
epidemic disease which was treatable with homeopathy was Diphtheria.
Since the advent of widespread vaccination, it is a disease
not often seen in our modern world. Diphtheria appeared periodically,
and rarely had the same presentation. It was, therefore, very
important for the practitioner to individualize the treatment
in each specific case or generalized epidemic. A remedy which
had been effective in treating it one year might not be the
same remedy needed the next year.
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)
Perhaps
the most recent use of homeopathy in a major epidemic was
during the Influenza Pandemic of 1918. The Journal of the
American Institute for Homeopathy, May, 1921, had a long article
about the use of homeopathy in the flu epidemic. 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 homeopathically had a mortality rate
of 1.05%. This last figure was supported by Dean W.A. Pearson
of Philadelphia (Hahnemann College) who collected 26,795 cases
of flu treated with homeopathy with the above result.
The
most common remedy used was Gelsemium, with occasional
cases needing Bryonia and Eupatorium reported.
Dr. Herbert A. Roberts from Derby, CT, said that 30 physicians
in Connecticut responded to his request for data. They reported
6,602 cases with 55 deaths, which is less than 1%. Dr. Roberts
was working as a physician on a troop ship during WWI. He
had 81 cases of flu on the way over to Europe. He reported,
"All recovered and were landed. Every man received homeopathic
treatment. One ship lost 31 on the way."
Closer
to our present time, there were the Polio epidemics in the
mid-1950s. Dr. Alonzo Shadman, a homeopath in the Boston area,
emphasized that until *actual paralysis* was observed, it
was hard to distinguish the prodromal symptoms of Polio from
those of the common cold-- and he treated many "summer colds"
during the time. Were they incipient polio? No one can tell.
Dr.
Francisco Eizayaga or Argentina, tells of a polio epidemic
in Buenos Aires in 1957, where the symptoms of the epidemic
resembled those of the remedy Lathyrus sativa. The homeopathic
doctors and pharmacies prescribed Lathyrus 30c as a prophylactic,
and "thousands of doses" were distributed. "Nobody registered
a case of contagion." Eizayaga points out that in other epidemics
of polio, Gelsemium was the indicated remedy-- emphasizing,
again, the need for individualization.
Homeopathy
has been very effective in treating many of the epidemics
during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Why the successes
are not better known is a subject for conjecture. It could
be that, like the physician quoted below, most would rather
not see the ineffectiveness of the conventional therapeutics
nor accept the efficacy of homeopathy.
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