SARS and Homeopathy

By Lise Maltaise N.D.

By now we have heard a lot about S.A.R.S. Toronto has faced a terrible challenge. Vancouver has a large oriental community and S.A.R.S is already in that city. How long until it becomes pandemic (spanning continents)?

The illness generally begins with a fever greater than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC. The fever is sometimes associated with chills, headache, malaise, and body aches. Some also experience mild respiratory symptoms at the outset. After three to seven days, the person may develop a dry, non-productive cough that might be accompanied by or progress to the point where insufficient oxygen is getting to the blood. In 10% to 20% of the cases, patients will require mechanical ventilation.

Homeopathy has a strong history of high rates of success in epidemics (highly contagious, rapidly spreading diseases).

Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the Founder of Homeopathy, treated 180 cases of Typhus Fever in 1813 and only two of his patients died, contrary to his allopathic colleagues which were experiencing mortality rates of over 30%. Hahnemann also had huge success in treating patients in the Cholera epidemic of 1830 in Germany. In 1854 it struck London and Homeopaths there had similar success compared to their allopathic counterparts, whose patient losses were around 50%. Later it was revealed that the Allopaths had a mortality rate for the epidemic of 59% while the Homeopaths had a mortality rate of only 9%.

In 1912, it was recorded that out of 6,063 cases of pneumonia treated by allopathic medicine, the death rate was 29.5%. Homeopaths treated 9,385 cases and their death rate was 3.9%. (Numbers taken from European and United States hospitals). I could go on here but the numbers are all sensibly the same. Homeopathy is the medicine of choice against infectious diseases, such as S.A.R.S. (a good book to read on this subject is Dorothy Shepherd's "Homeopathy and Epidemic Diseases").

It will take at least a year before a vaccine can be ready for human trials. Homeopathic remedies are readily available now. The only task that really needs to be accomplished from a classical homeopathic perspective, requiring far less time, is to carefully gather the clinical objective and subjective symptoms of the people who have contracted the disease and, after careful analysis, to decide which remedy or remedies in the Homeopathic Materia Medica are most similar to the epidemic. This remedy which can be used to address the symptoms and help prevent the illness, is called the genius epidemicus.

Phytopia has created a special homeopathic remedy kit containing 12 remedies specifically indicated for the symptoms of SARS and pneumonia. Dr. Lise Maltais and Phytopia can be reached at 250-339-2069.

Dr. Lise Maltais is a Naturopathic Physician, homeopath and certified Bowen Therapy Instructor. She has been in practice for 11 years and is currently located in Courtenay, BC.