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Fighting Avian Flu
by author Bill Strubbe

While drinking tea one morning, a headline caught the eye of homeopath and author Sandra Perko: “Scientists Say Killer Flu Chances High.” The report said that “although scientists cannot predict when the next pandemic will strike, they have uncovered surprising knowledge of where flu viruses come from.”

Expecting the article to continue with convoluted medical jargon, Perko recounts how she laughed aloud at the next sentence: “Research shows that the breeding place for major flu viruses is in the intestines of wild ducks.”

Homeopathy–light years ahead of allopathic (conventional) medicine–had already successfully introduced during the 1918 pandemic an influenza remedy that was made from the hearts and livers of wild ducks. That remedy is still in use today to fight annual
winter flu.

Like Cures Like

Discovered 200 years ago by German physician Samuel Hahnemann, homeopathy is a form of energetic medicine based upon the theory that “like cures like.” A substance deemed to stimulate symptoms similar to those caused by the illness (for example, onion for runny eyes and nose) is mixed with water, vigorously shaken, and repeatedly diluted until it’s unlikely that even a molecule of the original substance remains. According to homeopathic theory, the energy of the substance is imprinted on the water and triggers a healing response. If the breeding place for avian flu is found in the guts of wild ducks, it makes sense that the homeopathic remedies are found there too.

During the 1800s homeopathy was widely practised in North America, and there were almost two dozen homeopathic medical schools. But homeopathy fell out of favour–in fact was actively discredited–after the American Medical Association was formed to promote allopathic medicine.

The Gathering Storm

Many health and policy experts agree that should avian influenza A, also known as H5N1 virus, mutate into a super-strain that would be easily transmissible from human to human, its virulence could be equal to that of the 1918 Spanish flu, which killed an estimated 5 percent of the world’s population. Not only might tens of millions die, but with workers staying home, air travel minimized, and services and food distribution interrupted, the world’s economies would come to a grinding halt. Approximately 130 people worldwide have died so far from avian flu through animal to human transmission, though in May 2005 several clusters of fatal cases appeared in Indonesia. The virus has yet to reach the shores of North America, but one plane flight might be all it takes.

The conventional method for fighting influenza is vaccination. A functioning H5N1 vaccine is not yet available and is unlikely to be so until months after the first wave of infection. In addition to the exorbitant expense and the potential lack of sufficient doses of the only two currently prescribed vaccines, Tamiflu and Relenza, concerns exist about viral mutation and resistance.

A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine by Jeremy Farrar of Oxford University (September, 2005) states that in two of eight patients in Vietnam, the H5N1 virus rapidly developed resistance to Tamiflu, and the patients died within 24 hours.

Lessons from the Past?

The forecast may look bleak, but according to Randall Neustaedter in his book Flu: Alternative Treatments and Prevention (North Atlantic Books, 2004), evidence from the 1918 epidemic offers hope for the future.

Neustaedter compares mortality rates between homeopathic and conventional medical treatments of the time. In 26,975 cases of Spanish flu treated by homeopaths, Neustaedter claims that data show the mortality rate to be 1.05 percent, while the death rate for an estimated 24,000 flu cases under conventional medical care was 28.2 percent. Neustaedter notes that, according to reports published at the time, 30 homeopathic physicians in Connecticut reported 6,602 flu cases with only 55 deaths, and of 8,000 workers treated with homeopathic remedies in a Chicago factory, only one died.

Homeopaths Join Forces

Bill Strubbe is a freelancer based in Oakland, California who writes frequently about travel, health, and environmental issues.

Source: alive #288, October 2006