HOMEOPATHY, VITAL FORCE, AND CORONA

VATSALA SPERLING

 

INTRODUCTION: THE VIRUS AS A FORCE OF EVOLUTION

At the moment all of us, from three to one hundred and three years old, have one word on our lips—Virus! What is a virus after all but an entity much smaller than bacteria that lives like an inert molecule of dust until it finds a host? The host—a living cell of bacteria, fungi, plants, animals, or humans—is necessary for a virus to replicate itself and increase its numbers. If it fails to find a host, it can’t do much more than spend its days in utter tranquility just like a particle of dust.

However, there is a difference between an inert particle of dust and a virus. Unlike dust, a virus contains within its sturdy coat made of proteins and lipids a supply of genetic material: single strands of ribonucleic acid (RNA), deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), or both RNA and DNA. In this simple form and structure, viruses have been around since the very first living cells evolved millions of years ago, in many ways serving as the unsung heroes of the ecosystem. They have been helping with the destruction of bacteria and release of the structural components of bacteria back into the ecosystem so that these components are available for use by other living cells.

Viruses play an important role in the landscape of genetic material. Once they find a suitable host, viruses move genetic material horizontally and help increase genetic diversity by transferring genetic material between different species. Viruses are thus the driving force behind evolution. Nature deploys several vectors that act as a bridge between the viruses and their hosts. These vectors could be insects that feed on plants or suck blood from animals. The vector insects acquire a vast supply of virus from one host, and while visiting another host for a meal of plant sap or blood, they donate their collection of viruses to the new host. Some viruses spread via droplets that escape from the oral-nasal route while sneezing, and even talking and spitting. Some other viruses accompany excreta. Flying insects visit the excreta, pick up viruses on their feet and wings, and carry them to food and water. A new host ingests viruses as he consumes the contaminated food and water. Some other viruses spread among hosts via exchange of blood and body fluids.

Once inside the host cell, viruses shed their coat, integrate their genetic material into the genetic material of the host cells, and begin to proliferate. The newly replicated viral genetic strands use the proteins and lipids from the host to assemble new coats. Now fully formed, the viruses are released from the host cells either by lysis (total destruction) of the host cells, or by budding of the host cell. Some types of viruses integrate their genetic material into the host genetic material and do not destroy the host cells. These infected host cells can function normally as the viral genetic material moves vertically from one generation of the cell to the next when the host cell undergoes cell division.

Thousands of species of viruses are known, and many more thousands are yet to be identified and named. Many hundreds of acute and chronic diseases in plants, animals, and humans are attributed to viruses. At least 219 species of viruses are known to infect humans and cause serious illnesses,1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and they are associated with numerous epidemics and pandemics killing millions of people worldwide.6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The latest pandemic to slash its way across every continent is COVID-19 caused by Corona virus.11, 12, 13 However, pandemics are not a new experience for humanity. Over the course of centuries of recorded history of infectious diseases, pandemics have brought humanity face to face with its place in the hierarchy that plays out in the interaction and relationship between species. These waves of disease force humans to ask serious questions about life itself and ponder our powerlessness against invisible infectious agents.14

Though the infectious agents have enormous striking power, the human race is a tenacious one. Every time a new pandemic came along and began charting its brutal path through humanity, the society came up with ways and means to check the spread of the infectious disease. As science and technology evolved, vaccines were developed a few years after an outbreak.

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15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27

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AIDS, Bird flu, SARS, MERS, Swine flu, and the latest COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2—each one of these outbreaks of epidemics and pandemics has a few common points:

  1. There is an animal reservoir that carries the virus but does not show any symptoms of the disease.
  2. Humans get infected from hunting, slaughtering, handling, eating, or living in close proximity with the reservoir species.
  3. The virus begins to spread among humans. Some begin to show disease symptoms. Some become carriers/reservoirs and do not show any symptoms. Human-to-human transmission occurs via well-known transmission routes. Direct transmission through blood and body fluids spreads AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Indirect transmission occurs via airborne particles, fomites, droplets, and vectors.
  4. In earlier centuries, modes of transportation were slow. Fewer people traveled to foreign countries. Rate of international trade and commerce was slow too. The present century has exactly the opposite scenario. People from every country can (and often do) travel and visit almost any other country. The commercial airlines can bring in thousands of carrier and slightly unwell individuals to a country in just 30 hours, and once they spread out into and mingle with the population of the host country, the disease begins to spread like wildfire. This is what happened with COVID-19. Though the disease began in China, it has spread to every continent.
  5. It takes several years of exorbitantly expensive research and development, as well as human trials, before a cost-effective, safe, and reliable vaccine is available for the public. And no vaccine is 100% effective.

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  1. Particularly with regard to the flu, there is no universal vaccine with 100% effectiveness. Viruses causing flu mutate rapidly, and newer strains emerge against which the vaccines of earlier years are either ineffective or provide protection to less than 60% of those receiving vaccination.28

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE FLU AND COVID-19

The novel COVID-19 caused by Coronavirus elicits some symptoms similar to regular flu (caused by Influenza virus), but it has some unique symptoms too. In early stages fever, cough, body aches, fatigue, and occasionally vomiting/diarrhea are common to both. Both spread among people as they release virus-loaded droplets and aerosol while talking, breathing, spitting, coughing, and sneezing. Both illnesses can be spread by asymptomatic carriers and very mildly symptomatic individuals in whom the virus is in the incubation period and the prodromal stage. Both these viruses cannot be treated with antibiotics (antibiotics do work against bacteria but not viruses). At an advanced stage of infection with lung involvement, intensive hospital-based care with mechanical ventilators would be required.29, 30, 31

As shown in the diagram above, various flu vaccines are available with effectiveness between 19 and 60 percent. Since COVID-19 is caused by a new virus, no vaccine is available.

Though COVID-19 is another coronavirus like SARS-CoV (associated with earlier Coronavirus outbreaks), it has different epidemiological characteristics. COVID-19 is very efficient in replicating in the upper respiratory tract and causes a less abrupt onset of symptoms. In the prodromal period, the infected individuals produce large quantities of the virus in their upper respiratory tract, and since they are not quite sick yet, they carry on with their usual daily activities and spread the virus to their contacts. For this reason, it has been quite hard to contain the spread of COVID-19.

COVID-19 causes, like seasonal influenza, mild and self-limiting disease in most people who are infected. Severe illness with pneumonia and lung involvement is caused in older people with co-morbid conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic illnesses.

Since no vaccines and coronavirus antivirals are available for COVID-19, non-pharmaceutical interventions are the mainstay in containment of the disease in the community.32 This includes hand washing, face masks, social distancing, self-isolation, canceling public gatherings, school closures, remote working, home isolation, curfews, quarantine, lockdown, and so on. The level of public education about COVID-19 is very different from what it used to be during earlier outbreaks of Coronavirus and other flu epidemics and pandemics. Now there is 24/7 real and fake news and many platforms of social media that spread information about COVID-19 as fast as your internet connection will allow. And yet, flattening of the COVID-19 curve has remained elusive.

Non-pharmaceutical intervention implies that there is room for alternative approaches.

India has set an example in this regard by proposing the use of a homeopathic remedy. Unfazed by the harsh criticism hurled at it by the mainstream from both India and abroad, the government of India and its ministry AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) recommend the homeopathic remedy Arsenicum album in 30c33 doses as preventive for COVID-19. This is being used enthusiastically and successfully by the public. The Ministry of AYUSH functions alongside the Ministry of Health and Family welfare (since 2003) and is well aware of the role of Homeopathy in successfully handling epidemics and pandemics in earlier centuries.

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34, 35

HISTORY OF HOMEOPATHY IN INDIA

During British rule, Homeopathy was brought to India in 1839 by a Romanian homeopath, John Honigberger, who was a direct disciple of Samuel Hahnemann, M.D. (1755–1843, the founder of Homeopathy). Since then India has a proven track record of its relationship with Homeopathy. This country is fertile ground for a holistic and lowcost medical system like Homeopathy. The very first medical college of Homeopathy was founded in Calcutta in 1881, then the capital of British India. In 1973, Homeopathy was recognized as a national system of medicine, and the Central Council of Homeopathy was established to oversee and regulate the education and practice of Homeopathy. Presently, Homeopathy is the third most popular system of medical treatment after Allopathy (mainstream Western medicine) and Ayurveda (a comprehensive medical specialty that originated in India many thousands of years ago). There are over 195 medical colleges, more than 200,000 registered practitioners with government-recognized homeopathic medical degrees, and 38 postgraduate colleges offering an M.D. degree in Homeopathy, with 12,000 new graduates added to the pool every year.36, 37, 38

Homeopathy education funded, encouraged, and supported by taxpayer money, together with legal recognition and protection provided by the democratically elected government, translates into absence of fear and suppression around Homeopathy education and practice and use of this modality by the public, as evidenced by a 25 percent annual growth rate of Homeopathy in India. It is not surprising that the latest research and advancement in Homeopathy comes from India.39, 40, 41, 42

Because of easy access to homeopathic education, research, and remedies, and also because of multi-generational uninterrupted use of Homeopathy for common and serious illness, it is common knowledge among the population in India that homeopathic remedies do not have any side effects and are safe for all age groups including pregnant women and newborn babies. Homeopathy is thus woven into the very fabric of India and is available in every town and village. About 10 percent of the population relies on Homeopathy for its complete health care.

COVID-19: BRING IT ON, WE CAN HANDLE IT!

Reading what the leading homeopaths from India have to say about how to deal with COVID-19 offers hope and confidence in the face of this novel threat to the health and well-being of humanity.

In a recent interview Dr. Ajit Kulkarni pointed out that addressing epidemics and pandemics is nothing new in Homeopathy, which has an extensive track record of successfully reducing morbidity and mortality during outbreaks of infectious diseases.43 The Government of India has based its decision to use Homeopathy during the current COVID-19 outbreak on the available record of Homeopathy’s efficacy in handling epidemics and pandemics.

Dr. Kulkarni explained a day-by-day progression of COVID-19 symptoms:

People infected with the COVID-19 can remain symptom-free for anywhere from 14 to 27 days. During this time, the virus is replicating in their upper respiratory tract and escapes into the surroundings via droplets that are released during coughing, sneezing, speaking, etc. These droplets are inhaled by those nearby. The virus-loaded droplets land on fomites (objects and materials likely to carry infection such as clothing) and other inanimate surfaces, where the virus can remain viable for several days. Once symptoms begin to appear, progression is more or less as given below:

Days 1–3:

Cold and flu-like symptoms

Fever

Mild or no throat pain

Day 4:

Increased soreness and pain in throat

Fever between 97 and 98 degrees Fahrenheit

Mild headache

Diarrhea and cramps

Day 5:

Throat pain very severe, worse from eating and drinking

Voice is affected

Dry cough sets in

Joint pains are worse on moving

Weakness

Day 6:

Fever rises to 98.6 degrees F

Symptoms of days 1–5 increase in intensity

Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea

Mild feeling of shortness of breath

Body aches and pains from joints to fingers

Increase in weakness

Day 7:

Fever rises to 100.4 degrees F

Excessive cough

All above symptoms get worse

Day 8:

Excessive dry cough

Severe difficulty breathing

Heaviness and pain in chest

Toxic and ill appearance with intense weakness

Fever above 100.4 degrees

Day 9:

All symptoms much worse

Cyanosis

Kidney failure

Respiratory failure

Multi-organ failure

All patients do not follow and present a pattern of illness exactly as mentioned above. However, the typical day-by-day progression of the disease is very useful information that helps the homeopaths in choosing a suitable remedy and managing the disease.

Based on his observation of the evolution and totality of symptoms, Kulkarni has proposed a treatment plan.

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Kulkarni cautions that even though many remedies can be considered for treatment of COVID-19, any chosen remedy must augment the immune response against inhibition of viral replication, promote viral clearance, induce tissue repair, and trigger the adaptive mechanisms. From a homeopathic perspective, Kulkarni reiterates that the practitioners must adhere to the fundamentals of case taking with particular emphasis on location, sensation, and pathology, modalities as well as concomitants. At every instance, the practitioner must understand the stage where the patient is and apply the Law of Similars for selecting the remedy.

To illustrate how the symptom picture matches the remedy picture: take, for example, the symptoms that appear during critical stage when the patient seems to be on his deathbed gasping for breath. He is showing cyanosis from lack of oxygen, his blood oxygen level is low, he shows air-hunger. His lungs and heart are failing. Lung is filled up with debris and pus. He is in shock. At this time, administering Carbo vegetabilis brings him back and his symptoms can be reversed.

Kulkarni suggests that remedies can be repeated frequently as needed.

TABLE 3. KULKARNI’S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COVID-19 AND PNEUMONIAS
Severity of caseRecommended remedies
Mild to moderateArsenicum album, Bryonia alba, Chelidonium, Eupatoreum perfoliatum, Ferrum phosphoricum, Gelsemium, Hepar sulphuris calcareum, Mercurius solubilis, and Mercurius cyanatus
Severe casesApis mellifica, Arsenicum album, Bryonia, Camphora, Kali carbonicum, Kali iodatum, Lycopodium, Phosphorus, Pyrogenium, Sulphur, and Tuberculinum
Critical casesArsenicum album, Antimonium tartaricum, Camphora, Carbolicum acidicum, Carbo vegetabilis, Carbo animalis, Hippozenium, Kali carbonicum, Kali iodatum, Sulphur, and Veratrum album
Incipient pneumonias*Aconitum, Belladonna, Ferrum phosphoricum, and Ipecaccuanha
Frankly developed pneumonias

Complicated pneumonias*		Bryonia, Phosphorus, Veratrum viridae, and Chelidonium. For complicated pneumonias, Baptisia, Pyrogenium, Lachesis, Mercurius solubilis, Hepar sulphuris calcareum, and Rhus toxicodendron

Baptisia, Pyrogenium, Lachesis, Mercurius solubilis, Hepar sulphuris calcareum, and Rhus toxicodendron
Definite bronchopneumonia*Natrum sulphuricum, Pulsatilla, Senega, Lobelia inflata
Late pneumonias *Antimonium tartaricum, Carbo vegetabilis, Kali carbonicum, Lycopodium, Arsenicum album, and Sulphur, Ferrum phosphoricum in 1m, 10m
*Kulkarni has based the grading of pneumonias and his choice of remedies on the classic work of Douglas M. Borland, Pneumonias, first published in 1939 in the UK.44

From Italy, Massimo Mangialavori reported working with eighty-four patients.45 He used Chininum muriaticum for those with fever resistant to common antipyretics, rising in the early afternoon, weakness more pronounced in the evenings, frontal headache with painful pressure and intense eye pain, dry cough perceived as discomfort in the upper respiratory tract, poor appetite, and little thirst.

Mangialavori also used Grindelia robusta for these symptoms: fever with sudden increase in temperature, weakness more evident in early morning, throbbing headache in the occiput, better by sitting, with a desire to lie down but pain does not allow them to lie down, dry cough with desire to expectorate but absence of phlegm, struggles to get rid of the small amount of mucus, paroxysms of suffocating cough, anxiety with breathing difficulty, and a feeling that he must quickly go to a hospital, worried about falling asleep and not being able to breathe during sleep, wants to sleep with a light on, conjunctivitis moving from one eye to the other, joint pain in lower limbs, fearful, aware of being worried about symptoms.

Mangialavori also used Cinnamomum camphora for the following symptoms that he observed in his patients: continuous fever, sweating, chills, incipient fatigue worsening with sweating, headache with pressure from inside, wants to find relief by binding head tightly, cough less than the two previous remedies but tiring nevertheless, deep inhalation brings on cough. Shallow breathing seems to bring in insufficient amount of oxygen. Worry leads to more deep breathing and more cough. Shortness of breath from minimal exertion, watery and persistent post-nasal drip, diarrhea without abdominal pain, scanty urine, feels confused about being dangerous to one’s family members.

With use of the three remedies for indicated symptoms, 64 of 84 patients overcame their symptoms in more or less 3–4 days. They declared clear improvement and reported no relapse.

Dr. Manish Bhatia has done an extensive study of all the available and published COVID-19 symptoms.46 He observes that in Wuhan, Iran, and Italy, the disease has been very severe with patients complaining of respiratory distress and collapse. In other parts of the world, disease seems to be milder. In India, for example, a large number of patients seem to be asymptomatic or are developing very mild symptoms. He has compared the mortality rate of COVID-19 with other flus encountered in recent times and concluded that COVID-19 is not a life-threatening infection for most people. His observation is supported by recent reports from Santa Clara, California.47 Children and young adults just get flu-like symptoms, and maximum mortality rate is seen in elderly with pre-existing health complications. A similar comparison is available from other sources as well.48

Infection / epidemicMortality
Ebola50–90%
H5N1 Bird flu50%
SARS15%
Dengue1%
H1N1 Swine flu0.02%
Measles0.2%
Seasonal flu0.1%
Spanish flu2%
COVID-190.4–3.4%

In his study, Bhatia found that remedies such as Bryonia, Lycopodium, Mercurius solubilis, and Kali carbonicum cover the laterality, sequence, and pace of symptoms of COVID-19 infection. He recommends Bryonia as a prophylactic too and in low potency; it can be taken daily where cases of COVID-19 infection are clustered. Bryonia also covers the seasonality, as hemispheres transition from winter to spring with nights cold and days warm. Bryonia covers the respiratory symptoms of COVID-19 very well: cough dry, hard, very painful, at night, as from stomach, must sit up, worse from eating, drinking, wants to take deep breath but cannot as it excites cough; expectoration rusty, blood-streaked or tough; bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia, sharp stitches in chest or at right scapula, worse deep breathing and coughing, pleurisy, coming to warm room excites cough, holds chest, presses at sternum when coughing.

Similarly, Lycopodium and Kali carb cover the symptoms of COVID19 infection. A detailed description of symptoms of these remedies can be found in textbooks of Homeopathy written over a century ago.49

Drs. Rajan Sankaran and Aditya Kasariyans analyzed the symptom presentation of 30 COVID-19 cases (40–70 years old) in Iran, and for 26 out of 30 patients, they prescribed Camphora 1M. 50, 51 A few other patients were given Arsenicum album, China, and Phosphorus depending on the totality of their symptoms. The cases had either positive lab test / Corona test or positive CT scan. Patients receiving Camphora were at different stages of the disease. Some had just started having symptoms, some were very sick, and some others had several different complications. Without exception, they showed a dramatic response to Camphora by overcoming extreme prostration, low energy, and nausea. Body aches, soreness, breathlessness, and cough reduced within 24 hours. Their health improved significantly, and Oxygen saturation increased. Symptoms improved by 40 percent within 24–30 hours of the first prescription, and morbidity was reduced significantly.

Drs. Sachindra and Bhawisha Joshi have proposed use of Bryonia alba, Arsenicum album, and Phosphorus for early/mild cases and Antimonium tartaricum, Grindelia, and Camphora for severe symptoms with breathlessness and low oxygen.52

In an integrated approach, Dr. Dinesh Chauhan has made the following recommendations:53

  1. Lobelia purpurascens: Profound prostration, respiratory paralysis, deadly chills without shivering, influenza, oppression of lower parts of chest.
  2. Quebracho: Low oxygen (it can be considered a homeopathic oxygen mask).
  3. Grindelia: Asthma, emphysema, smothering suffocation on falling asleep, desire for light, sunshine, and company.
  4. Quillaja saponaria: Colds with dry sore throat, cough with difficult expectoration. Quillaja Saponaria is a homeopathic remedy that uses the medicinal properties of the saponin content of the plant. Saponins are known to have an antiviral action. Now, it is interesting that handwashing for 20 seconds with soap (a derivative of saponin) and warm water has been recommended for prevention of COVID-19. Both soap and warm water destroy the integrity of the viral lipid coat.

Dr. Chauhan further recommends Bach flower essences, herbal teas, as well as books to read during the lockdowns so that our knowledge may increase.

Working from the east of India in Calcutta, one of the most crowded cities of the world, and with five generations of homeopaths in the family, Dr. Saparishi Banerjea recommends the remedies Sticta pulmonaria, Justicia adhatoda, Spongia toasta, Bryonia alba, Rumex crispus, Rhus toxicodendron, Eucalyptus, Ferrum phosphoricum, Arsenicum album, and Gelsemium.54 Similarly, the work of Harry Van Der Jee55 gives a deep insight into the current COVID-19 pandemic and helps make sense of it. From Mumbai, India, Dr. Divya Chabbra offers her remedy suggestions for dealing with COVID-19 infection.56

AS MANY HOMEOPATHS, THAT MANY REMEDIES: WHAT TO CHOOSE, HOW TO TAKE REMEDIES?

With so many different recommendations from various homeopaths, choosing a suitable remedy might seem to be a daunting task, and rightly so. But what is necessary to remember here is that COVID-19 symptoms have not been constant throughout the world. There have been asymptomatic carriers. There have been mildly sick individuals. Some have become extremely sick and required ventilators. Some of those have returned home after recovery but many of them have died.

What is apparent from the work of homeopaths from India is that for every stage of the disease, several homeopathic remedies are available. When chosen with particular attention to the symptoms of the patient, the remedies cut short the morbidity and arrest the progression of the disease.

It is a known factor in infectious diseases that an individual’s susceptibility plays a very strong role in how he or she will manifest symptoms. Some people live through epidemics and pandemics, some others die. Some recover from illness, some show no signs and symptoms of the disease. These differences in the outcome raise a question—why some of us are susceptible to infectious disease whereas others get the same microbe and remain well. For most of human history, it was believed to be luck. Upon their discovery by scientists, germs became the favorite punching bag and villains that brought on infectious diseases (and with invention of antibiotics, the public was led to believe that we will live in a world free from infectious diseases). But these assumptions do not explain the varying outcome and expression in different individuals when they get the same germ. Examining susceptibility in the context of “damage-response framework” helps us understand the several factors that influence the outcome of an individual’s interaction with an infectious agent.

  1. Microbe: Virulence, inoculum, pathogenicity
  2. Host: Sex, age, nutrition, immunity, history, exposure, chance, genetics
  3. Environment: Temperature, humidity, population density, hygiene, climate, presence of environmental toxins

With all these factors playing a role together, it is incorrect to expect that every single person exposed to a pathogen will develop exactly the same symptoms.57

However, the overall expression of symptoms during an epidemic and pandemic does have a common pattern of presentation, as if the community is responding as one entity to infection by a pathogen. This idea formed the basis of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann’s choice of a homeopathic remedy as genus epidemicus for the various epidemics that he treated in his lifetime and obtained stellar results.58 In treating the epidemics of his time, Hahnemann considered the general, generic symptoms of the epidemic displayed by all patients instead of focusing on variations in the symptoms presented by each individual patient. By selecting a remedy that matched the generic symptoms, he was able to successfully treat a large number of patients who had become sick during the epidemic.

Arsenicum album is recommended more as a prophylactic in India. Camphora covers the symptoms of late stages of the illness. There is much debate going on about what exactly is going to be the genus epidemicus for COVID-19.

Arsenicum album 30c is currently recommended by India’s ministry of AYUSH, and the homeopaths studying the phenomenon of the COVID-19 pandemic and treating patients have come up with the list of remedies given above that have worked very well to reduce morbidity of their patients. A wide range of remedies that could be used ensures that patients at any stage of infection can be treated successfully. Also, as the symptom picture changes for an infected individual, the remedy can be changed. It is worth noting that in selecting a remedy that matches a set of symptoms or a stage of illness, the homeopath is trying to boost the vital force and not necessarily battle the germs and annihilate them. When the vital force is strong, it does not allow the body to be susceptible to an invading germ.

Dr. Michael Yakir has supported the use of combination remedies if necessary: “Mixtures are only for times of war—or when we have a nation on the verge of death” implying that during the current pandemic that has created an international crisis, we could use a few remedies together in a mixture. Dr. Yakir recommends a kit of a small selection of remedies at home with clear instructions about what to take for prevention, what to take at the onset, and what to take if the situation worsens.59

Dr. Sankaran recommends adding one pill of the indicated genus epidemicus remedy, Camphora, to a cup of water and taking a sip every three hours for treatment when the symptoms match.60

UNDERSTANDING THE SCOPE AND DEFENDING AGAINST COVID-19 WITH HOMEOPATHY

The COVID-19 pandemic not only created a medical and health emergency—with fever, dry cough, breathing difficulty requiring a ventilator, and pulmonary and cardiac involvement—but in a recent report from China, it is also shown to be causing neurological symptoms in 36.4 percent of very sick patients.61 The neurological effects involve central as well as peripheral nervous symptoms and can produce dizziness, headache, impaired consciousness, acute cerebrovascular disease, ataxia, and seizure; taste-smell-and-vision impairment, nerve pain, and skeletal-muscular injury. Very sick patients who survive the intensive care, intubation, ventilator, and oxygen mask experience post-ICU trauma (Post Intensive Care syndrome) years after hospitalization.62 Apart from the initial sets of symptoms and either spontaneous or ICU based recovery, many patients infected with COVID-19 show a relapse of the symptoms, or they simply do not feel completely well. On retesting, they are sometimes found to have the virus again. It is suspected that the virus goes dormant and reappears when the immune system is at its low point. It is also possible that instead of going dormant, the virus goes away but people get a fresh infection. This implies that they have not developed antibodies to the virus from their earlier infection, or an even more alarming scenario—that newer strains of virus are emerging that are slightly different from the original COVID-19 strain but similar enough to cause the same range of infection in a susceptible and vulnerable host. And because a large number of people are asymptomatic carriers and are testing positive for the virus, they might become reservoirs for the second wave of the pandemic.63, 64, 65

But the physical symptoms of the disease are incomparable to the mass hysteria and a global panic, as per Dr. Jiuan Heng’s communication to Dr. Manish Bhatia.66 People all over the world are collectively experiencing fear of contagion, desire/need for hoarding, mutual suspicion and mistrust, racial backlash, conspiracy, fear of poverty, and fear of loss of work/business/income. Apart from the fear of catching the disease and dying from it, people are afraid for their overall security, well-being, jobs, and even the social structure of their communities. The multiple impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are yet to be fully reported by psychologists and therapists. How this pandemic will affect the miasmatic aspect of the entire human race is something yet to be discovered by homeopaths.

It is a very heavy price to pay for our unintended exposure to a microbe. As a species, we have been exposed to and we have survived the dark power of many different microbes over our collective history. For some microbes, we have herd immunity (partly due to exposure and partly due to vaccination), but there will likely never be any assurance that humanity will be able to live without the threat of some deadly germ.

Does homeopathy offer any prophylactic support?

For the current COVID-19 pandemic, a few doses of Arsenicum album 30c are recommended by the government of India’s Ministry of AYUSH, as a prophylactic. Bhatia67 has proposed the use of Bryonia alba; and Sankaran has suggested the use of Camphora.68 For several years Dana Ullman has strongly recommended use of Thymuline for overall enhancement of immunity.69 At the forefront of homeo-prophylaxis, Dr. Issac Golden suggests a cocktail preparation of a few remedies and nosodes as a preventive/prophylactic for COVID-19 infection.70

The preventive measures put in place by various governments have slowed the spread of the virus, but there is still no assurance that when exposed to the virus, people will not be infected and become symptomatic. The problem of a re-emergence of the threat has not gone away either. In this situation, homeopathic remedies help reduce the severity and duration of symptoms by strengtheing the Vital Force.

Homeopathic remedies and prophylactic measures are particularly useful because relapse and re-infection in previously infected sick individuals and emergence of slightly different strains of COVID-19 are being reported, and the pharmaceutical/antiviral approach as well as a vaccine are not yet available.

CONCLUSION

As per the report published in the Lancet,71 no vaccines or coronavirus antivirals are available for COVID-19, and therefore non-pharmaceutical interventions are the mainstay in containment of the disease. In this scenario, the alternative, non-pharmaceutical discipline of Homeopathy offers a way out using time-tested remedies that have been successfully used for the past couple of centuries. Current research in Homeopathy even offers a prophylactic solution. If homeopathic support and remedies are available for all those infected with COVID-19, then potentially the asymptomatic carriers and those in early stages of the disease might not progress to the severe stage. As mentioned earlier, the majority of people who get the virus do not become critically ill, so Homeopathy can help them navigate the illness at home and become well without experiencing any nasty side effects, as homeopathic remedies have none. But those with co-morbid conditions, the elderly, the very sick can go to hospitals and ICUs for receiving the latest that the technologically advanced medical science has to offer.72 Homeopathy can thus take away a huge burden from the hospitals and medical–pharmaceutical industry, particularly because at the moment they have neither the antiviral drugs nor vaccinations available for the public.

If the governments truly want their citizens to receive help with COVID-19 even before the mainstream medicine and vaccine makers can invent and bring their arsenal to the forefront, then governments all over the world will do what India has been doing since 1839: allow Homeopathy to flourish by way of promoting general acceptance, government funding, as well as protection. If truth be told, Homeopathy is way ahead of science.73 The health and well-being of the public must not be put on hold just because mainstream science is taking its own time (out of fear or ignorance) to catch up with Homeopathy.

In my own observation and study of COVID-19 and how the public has been taught to deal with it, I am reminded of the handwashing and showering rules, as well as the social etiquette of greeting the elderly. These rules were handed down from one generation in my family to the next and were essentially based on the recommendations given in Ayurveda. A daily morning shower and a fresh set of clothes were a must in our childhood home. Another shower before bedtime and a thorough washing of hands, face, and feet several times during the day was a non-negotiable must after we returned from an outing, a social visit, or from school. When greeting the elders, we were not expected to run to them, shake their hands, hug, and kiss them—we were taught to approach them gently, do namaste, bow and touch their feet, stand back at least four feet, and seek their blessings and not talk loudly to their face.

I had often wondered about the reason for these practices and etiquettes. Right now, the much talked-about hygiene practices around COVID-19 have an answer. We collect germs during our sojourn into the world. When we return home, in order not to bring germs, particularly pathogens, into the family, we are taught to maintain a strict routine of washing and showering. Similarly, the elderly folks are known to be a vulnerable population. While moving around in the world, we do pick up microbes, but it is our responsibility to not give these germs to the elderly and make them sick. So, we were taught to not speak to their face (to contain droplets escaping from our mouth), and to stand a few feet away from them so we do not breathe our germs onto their face. By not shaking their hands, we do not pass along the germs from our hands to the elderly. By way of a simple act of maintaining daily routines of personal hygiene and seeking blessings from our elderly, Ayurveda taught us the basic rules for preventing the spread of infectious diseases via droplets. When these rules for maintaining personal hygiene and the social etiquette of greeting the elders were put in place, did the ancients have a deep awareness of the mode of transmission of harmful germs?

It is interesting to note that handwashing to kill germs is an idea that some people have to be taught during the COVID-19 crisis. Though it seems like basic hygiene today, it is a relatively recent discovery in the history of modern medicine. In the early 19th century, even hospitals had no inkling of the importance of cleanliness. They were breeding grounds for infection, often referred to as “houses of death.”74, 75, 76, 77 In this regard, even though Ayurveda is way ahead of the modern times and has long offered clear guidelines for personal and social hygiene, there are a few who ask with a juvenile vehemence for scientific proof for everything from benefits of exposure to sunlight to the importance of exercise.

Medical historian Snowden points out that after World War II “there was real confidence that all infectious diseases were going to be a thing of the past.”78 Chronic and hereditary diseases would remain, but “the infections, the contagions, the pandemics, would no longer exist because of science.” Since the 1990s—in particular the avian flu outbreak of 1997—experts have understood that “there are going to be many more epidemic diseases, especially respiratory infections that jump from animals to humans.” So, obviously, we might be able to flatten the curve after losing millions of lives and trillions of dollars to the COVID-19 virus, but we are not going to be free from the fear of encountering the next virus that comes up to test our resilience.

What does COVID-19 mean for the global human family?

Harry Van der Jee has proposed that COVID-19 will strengthen the immune system of humanity and thus over the long run improve health and save lives.79 Human DNA has been built up over millions of years, and in it the genetic information of many bacteria and viruses has been incorporated. Due to all those contributions our physical form has evolved into the amazing instrument it is. Now new information is being offered and the confrontation with this can ultimately only strengthen our collective DNA.

Eventually, when the storm dies down and we are able to breathe normally again without the face masks, we as one species may see that the COVID-19 experience has been globally destructive and at the same time monumentally transformative—just like Shiva, the Lord of creative destruction. Centuries of manmade boundaries between social order, economic muscle, health, religion, philosophy, and ethics (because of resource scarcity the doctors have to decide who gets the ventilator and gets to live and who does not and is left to die!) are stretching, flexing, and extending beyond limits. In some areas, our social structure is crumbling but new forms will emerge. The creative destruction that the management gurus talk about as a part of corporate restructuring is happening right now, not just in one company but on a worldwide scale, to all of us. From this moment of unprecedented transformation, what new form will emerge? What direction will humanity take? Who will be culled from the herd? Who will develop herd immunity and will pass it along to the offspring? As our genetic code is being re-written to accommodate the RNA of COVID-19, how will this newly restructured human genome express itself?

We live in a dynamic and ever-changing scenario. Healing modalities like Ayurveda and Homeopathy are uniquely suited to deal with the extraordinary variables that influence the Vital Force and challenge it to manifest new symptoms and miasmatic expressions.

With its vast arsenal of time-tested and gentle remedies that work on the Vital Force, Homeopathy has a unique approach to the pandemic, as it is able to address not just the symptoms that come up at the physical level but also the emotional symptoms and the extraordinary degree of fear experienced by humanity as a whole. Till the time comes when antivirals and vaccines are invented and COVID-19 is defeated in a military style, people can be helped by Homeopathy and experience a transformation in the expression of their symptoms and the level of their well-being.

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VATSALA SPERLING, M.S., Ph.D., P.D.Hom., CCH, RSHom (Ph.D. in Clinical Microbiology) served as the chief of clinical microbiology in The CHILDS Trust Hospital, Chennai, India; and as a research scientist, she collaborated with the World Health Organization’s International Escherichia and Klebsiella research center. Vatsala Sperling earned her homeopathy degree from The School of Homeopathy, UK, and has been in a successful practice since 2008 (www.Rochesterhomeopathy.com). A published author of ten books (www.InnerTraditions.com) and research papers and articles on homeopathy, spirituality, and healthy living, Vatsala lives with her family in Vermont and spends time in Costa Rica serving on a reforestation project (www.HaciendaRioCote.com).

NOTES

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