Tag Archives: homeoprophylaxis

What is Homeoprophylaxis?

“Homeoprophylaxis (HP) is the use of potentized substances in a systematic manner to prevent the development of the characteristic symptoms of disease.”- Dr. Golden

Homeoprophylaxis (HP) is a safe way to “educate” the immune system against infectious and contagious diseases, and it has been successfully used for more than 200 years. HP is based on homeopathic approach and addresses the whole person to promote health and prevent diseases.

Homeopathic remedies used in HP are ultra-high dilutions, they do not contain molecules of the original substances, and are non-toxic. HP remedies are made from plant, mineral or animal sources or disease products, and are given before encountering a disease to “educate” the immune system. HP remedy works on energetic level of the body and serves as an information message to the immune system.

Law of Similars is used in homeopathy to choose correct remedies, and is also applied for prevention. A remedy that produces symptoms similar to those of the disease will cure an individual that has that disease.  The same remedy that will cure an infectious disease will prevent or reduce the severity of that infection if the remedy is given before exposure to the disease.

Regular vaccines contain small amounts of infectious organisms or disease products. In addition to the disease causing microbes, conventional vaccines contain multiple adjuvants and preservatives and can cause serious side effects.  Conventional vaccines are injected directly into the blood stream bypassing the body’s natural early defense mechanisms. The goal of conventional vaccines is to produce antibodies. The expectation is that the person who is given a vaccine for a specific disease will develop antibodies to that disease and thus be protected. Dr. Merrill W. Chase made a discovery in 1940s (1) that antibodies or humoral immunity alone do not provide immunity, non-specific, cell medicated immunity that involves action of different types of T-cells is important as well to protect the body from infections.

In contrast with conventional vaccines, HP remedies have no dangerous additives, preservatives, toxins, antibiotics, and no molecules of the infecting virus remain. HP remedies contain only the information frequency of the disease. This frequency is delivered on tiny sugar pellets, by mouth, one disease at a time. HP remedy “educates” the immune system about a specific virus. HP does not rely on antibody production, but on changing the susceptibility of the person to the disease. Microbes are not seen as the main cause of diseases, rather terrain, or individual’s predisposition to a disease is important – absence of the predisposition to a specific disease makes the person immune to it. Homeopathic remedies are able to remove these predispositions.

Homeopathy has a 200 years history of high success rate in healing and providing protection in epidemic diseases. Dr. Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, used homeopathic remedy Belladonna to treat patients with scarlet fever. He noticed that those who took the same remedy Belladonna before developing the symptoms of scarlet fever, remained healthy even when coming into contact with the disease. (2) Homeoprophylaxis has been used by many well known homeopathic practitioners like Hering, Boenninghausen, Kent, Allen and Boger, and many other homeopathic practitioners since then.

In recent years large-scale observational studies for homeoprophylactic intervention have been conducted in Cuba for Leptospirosis in 2.3 million persons (3), in Brazil for meningitis in 85,000 people (5),  in India for Japanese encephalitis in more than 20 million people (6).

Dr. Isaac Golden from Australia is the world authority on homeoprophylaxis. In 2004 he completed a research on homeoprophylaxis at the Swinburne University, Melbourne. It was a 20 years Homeoprophylactic Program for disease prevention from 1985 to 2004 where 2,342 responses were collected.  According to the research, the effectiveness of homeoprophylaxis  is 90.4% (95% confidence limits 87.6% – 93.2%). Using national attack rates as a control, HP efficacy for three diseases was:  whooping cough – 86.2%; measles – 90.0%; mumps – 91.6%. (7)

No method of disease prevention can guarantee 100% protection from any infectious disease. When you are considering any aspect of your health and health of your children, it is important to research and review all factors and information. Conventional vaccines do have risks, and can be contraindicated to people with severe illness, suppressed immune system, or history of previous vaccine reactions. Some people have religious or philosophical objections to conventional vaccines. Homeoprophylaxis offers a safe alternative for those groups of people.

Vaccinations are a personal choice and require thoughtful considerations. I do not recommend or discourage regular vaccinations. I recommend clients to do as much research as possible to make sure they feel satisfied with the choice they make. Clients make decisions on their own, and some chose conventional vaccines, and others do not. I respect everyone’s decision. If conventional vaccines are being used, specific homeopathic remedies might be suggested to mitigate negative side effects of traditional vaccinations.

HP remedies are suitable for infants, children and adults. HP remedies can be used for people who travel to countries where they may be exposed to infectious diseases not present in their home country. HP is based on sound homeopathic principals, is safe and effective, and has been used successfully by many people around the world.

If you are considering homeoprophylaxis for yourself or your children, please contact Vera.

REFERENCES:

  1. “Merrill W. Chase, 98, Scientist Who Advanced Immunology”,By Anahad O’Connor, Jan 22, 2004, NY Times,  http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/22/nyregion/merrill-w-chase-98-scientist-who-advanced-immunology.html?_r=2
  1. Hahnemann S. 1801. “The Cure and Prevention of Scarlet Fever”, p. 369-384, The Lesser Writings of Samuel Hahnemann, republished by B. Jain Publishers, 1993, New Dehli.
  2. Bracho, G, Varela, E, Fernandez, R, et al. “Large-scale application of highly-diluted bacteria for Leptospirosis epidemic control.” Homeopathy. 99 (2010): 156-166.,            https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20674839
  1. Dr. Golden, Isaac. “Homeoprophylaxis-A Fifteen Year Clinical Study: A Statistical Review of Efficacy and Safety of Long Term Homeoprophylaxis.” Gisborne. Vic. 2004
  2. Mroninski, Adriano, Mattos. Homeopathic Links, Winter 2001, Vol 14(4)), Influenza (International Journal of High Dilution Research 2011; 10(36):174-176
  3. Srinivasulu, G. “An Open Observational Study on the prevention of Japanese Encephalitis through Miasmatic Prescription”, Journal of Homoeopathy, January 2014 Volume 103, Issue 1, Pages 78–79,  http://www.homeopathyjournal.net/article/S1475-4916(13)00125-2/abstract
  1. Dr. Golden, Isaac http://immunizationalternatives.com/clinical-research/

BOOKS

REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY

Copyright © 2016 –, Vera Volfson, CCH

History of Homeoprophylaxis

General and historical review of the long term and historical use of homeoprophylaxis over the last 200+ years

  • 1799: Scarlatina epidemic in Germany was managed successfully by Belladonna.
  • 1801: Hahnemann wrote an article, “The prevention and cure of scarlet fever” in his lesser writings. Also published a pamphlet called ‘Cure and Prevention of Scarlet Fever’, along with each pamphlet, a vial containing Belladonna was distributed. In his footnote to § 73, he wrote, “scarlet fever founds its preventive and curative means in Belladonna.”
  • 1808: In the subsequent scarlatina epidemic in Germany, Aconite was proved effective.
  • 1808: Published a paper, “Observation on the scarlet fever,” in which he described the individual features of the two previous epidemics.
  • 1813: Hahnemann mentioned in his ‘Chronic Diseases’ about Bryonia and Rhus tox for the acute miasm of typhus.
  • 1831: Hahnemann selected Camphor, Cuprum and Veratrum album for the prevention and cure of Asiatic cholera.
  • 1849:  Boenninghausen  successfully used preventives during the cholera epidemic in Europe. The mortality rate was 54-90% in conventional medicine, whereas homeopathy had only 5–16% mortality. In his lesser writings, he had mentioned about his experience on Thuja for the prevention of small pox. Once he said, “Variolinum 200 is far supreme to crude vaccinations and absolutely safe.”
  • 1833, Constantine Hering: He  suggested Psorinum to prevent an infection of itch miasm.
  • 1884, J C Burnet: He suggested Vaccinum 30 as a preventive for small pox.
  • Dr. H. C. Allen: He used Diptherinum for 25 years as a preventive
    of Diptheria.
  • William Boericke: In his Materia Medica, under Baptisia, he writes, “Baptisia in lower dilutions produces a form of antibodies to the bacillus typhosus. It raises the natural body resistance to the invasion of bacillary intoxication.”
  • Dorothy Shepherd: Confirmed the effectiveness of Pertussin in the prevention of whooping cough.
  • Francisco X. Eizayaga. His protocol of homeopathic prophylaxis was successfully used for four decades in Buenos Aires.
  • 1820 – 1904, Dr. Dudgeon: He reported that 10 allopathic doctors  used homeopathic doses of Belladonna on 1646 children as a preventive for scarlet fever, and only 123 cases had the infection. At the same time, 90% of people who had not taken Belladonna got the infection.
  • 1838, Dr. Hufeland: He supported the use of Belladonna as a preventive against scarlet fever, hence, the government of Prussia made its use mandatory in 1838 during an epidemic of scarlet fever.
  • 1907, Dr. Eaton: In 1907, he collated the results of several doctors in Iowa during a smallpox epidemic. As a prophylaxis to small pox, 2806 persons were given Variolinum 30. Out of these 2806 people, 547 persons had definite exposure to small pox. The response was very encouraging. Only 14 cases got the infection, which means the prophylaxis was 97% effective.
  • 1918, W. A. Pearson:  W. A. Pearson of Philadelphia collected 26795 cases of influenza treated with Gelsemium by various homeopathic physicians. The mortality was only 1.05%, but the mortality of cases treated by conventional medicine was 30%.
  • 1988 – 1994, Dr. Isaac Golden:  Conducted a survey among the customers who had purchased his prophylactic kit against diseases like pertussis, diphtheria, mumps, measles, influenza, tetanus, and poliomyelitis. He then conducted a follow-up survey by sending a questionnaire between 1988 to 1994 to each of the parents. He received 879 replies, out of which, only 2% of the children got the infection. Out of 188 children who had definite exposure, only 20 got infected, that too with fewer troubles. There were no adverse effects from the program. The repeated doses actually helped for the long-term prevention.
  • 1974, Brazil: Guarantingueta in Brazil had faced an epidemic of meningitis. As a prophylaxis, Meningococcinum 10C was given to 18640 children. At the same time another group of 6,340 children did not receive the nosode, hence used as control. Out of 18,640, only 4 cases developed meningitis. And, among 6,340 children, 43 cases developed the disease.
  • USA: The homeopaths who worked for the public health departments in USA gained great experience by using the nosodes against smallpox epidemics.
  • 2007, Cuba: In October – November 2007, researchers at Finlay institute, Cuba, reported on their successful use of homeopathic remedy for the prevention of Leptospirosis. They prepared a 200C nosode from various strains of the organism, which was given to 2.4 million people. There was a dramatic decrease in morbidity and reached to zero mortality of hospitalized patients.
  • India: In almost all states in India, homeopathic preventive medicines were distributed during the epidemics of Japanese encephalitis, Swine flu, Chinkungunya, Chickenpox, Conjunctivitis, Dengue fever, etc. The responses from the various sources are quite favorable. The success story of prophylaxis from Andhra Pradesh was a much-discussed topic in the public media. The Central Council for Research in Homeopathy (CCRH) is always vigilant on the outbreak of epidemic. They have special research centers to conduct studies on prophylaxis. CCRH also conducted studies on the efficacy of prevention of Japanese Encephalitis in states like UP,  WB, AP, Assam (1986-1999). The result was excellent. In India, homeopathic preventives are also distributed by NRHM, State Government departments, Homeopathic colleges, organizations and practitioners. The Government of Kerala has got a special body called RAECH (Rapid Action Epidemic Control cell Homeopathy), which is under the control of the department of homeopathy. It includes medical officers, members from various organizations and also private practitioners in each area. The RAECH has conducted many studies on the efficacy of HP.

Adapted from an article on Homeoprophylaxis by Dr. Muhammed Rafeeque, BHMS, India, Presented for the first time at LIGA 1st – 4th December 2011
Article Published in the March 2012 issue of Homeopathic Heritage, http://californiahomeopath.com/issue/the-california-homeopath-volume-17-3/article/an-attempt-to-solve-the-controversies-in-homoeopathic-prophylaxis1