INTRODUCTION:

AIDS off late has impressed upon the medical community to realise the importance of the body's immune system.

What is yet to be understood by the medical community is that they need to pay more attention and research ways to enhance immune response to tackle this growing menace, rather than ways to inhibit viral replication. As is known “…nothing is in seed everything is in soil “.

In this respect one has to understand what homeopathy has to offer, it is necessary to know some different approach to infectious disease than simply attacking a pathogen. Although the leading AIDS drug, AZT, has been found to prolong the lives of people with AIDS by only seven or eight months, (1) but due to its side effects, the quality of life during this time is miserable.

Louis Pasteur, who initially suggested that bacteria cause disease, later realised that bacteria may not necessarily be the "cause" of disease as much as the "results" of disease. (2) Like Claude Bernard, (3) the father of experimental physiology, Pasteur came to realise that the susceptibility of the individual, the "host resistance" was a greater determinant of the development of disease than the infective agent itself, as is conceived by Homeopathic principles.

Physicians and scientists are finally realising the limitations and problems (Resistance & side effects) inherent in antibiotics as antimicrobial agents; antiviral drugs are also inevitably suffering a similar fate.

A recent survey of physicians in the Netherlands verified this possibility. The survey showed that 50% of Dutch physicians instigated and supported the use of homeopathic and natural therapies in the treatment of people with AIDS.(4)

PREVENTING AIDS:

The best and most certain way to prevent AIDS is to avoid exchanging bodily fluids with people who are HIV+ve. Exposure to these bodily fluids most commonly occurs through sexual activity, sharing needles, or receiving blood transfusions.

It is vice to avoid the factors that inhibit immune response and to utilise those that enhance it. The factors that inhibit immune response include an unhealthy lifestyle (i.e., smoking, poor diet, significant stress, sedentary habits) and the use of therapeutic and recreational drugs, while those that enhance immune response tend to be a healthy lifestyle and utilising Homeopathic medicines, since Homeopathic medicines are known to have immunomodulatory effect (supported by experimental evidence) "Immunomodulatory effects”: Refers to a tonification of the body's immune system that is, an ability to enhance immune response when it needs to be stimulated and to depress an already over stimulated immune system). One laboratory study showed that the homeopathic medicine Silicea had dramatic effects on stimulating macrophages, an important part of the body's immune system, by 55.5% to 67.5%(11). On the other hand, another clinical trial showed the efficacy of individualised homeopathic medicines on the treatment of people with rheumatoid arthritis, (12) an autoimmune disease, which is when a person's immune system is over active, leading the body to attack itself. This study suggests that homeopathic medicines decreased the over active immune system. Other studies have shown the immunomodulatory effects of homeopathic medicines, (13-14) their description is beyond the scope of this paper (Refer to P. Bellavite and A. Signorini, Homeopathy: A Frontier in Medical Science. Berkeley: North Atlantic, 1995); the above cited research work is simply to substantiate the fact that intercurrent use of Silicea in 200 or higher potency would modulate immune status of the patient preventing & countering the opportunistic infections.

A new and significant study suggests that homeopathic medicines may have a dramatic effect on some people with HIV. A study carried out by CCRH (Central council of research in homeopathy) India with 129 asymptomatic HIV+ve patients (120 male and 9 female) showed that during homeopathic treatment over a period of 3 to 16 months, 11 patients changed from HIV+ve to HIV-ve. (5) The diagnosis of all patients in this study were initially confirmed by the two accepted laboratory analysis, ELISA and the Western Blot, which were performed by a World Health Organization-recognized center in India. After homeopathic treatment, 12 patients who initially tested HIV+ve from the ELISA test were found to be HIV-ve later. The initial report on this study showed that only 2 of these 12 patients were tested again through the Western Blot, However, later the authors confirmed that 9 of the original 12 patients tested negative according to the Western Blot, and an additional two people changed from HIV+ve to HIV-ve. (D.P. Rastogi, "Asymptomatic HIV Carriers," British Homoeopathic Journal, January 1994, 83:54.) No conventional drugs of any type were prescribed to these patients during the period of study.

The medical literature has on rare occasions reported individual patients who for unknown reasons converted from being HIV+ve to being HIV-ve. This study is the first to report more than one. It should be noted that this writer acknowledges & envisages the fact that it does not initially make sense that people can turn from HIV+ve to HIV-ve, because the tests that determine this status are simply evaluating a person's antibodies, not the disease state itself. It is generally assumed that people who become HIV+ve will remain that way throughout their lives. It therefore seems obvious that the work by the CCRH researchers should be more carefully studied to evaluate this potentially significant clinical result. Which shows significant improvement in immune status of HIV+ve and AIDS patients as the result of homeopathic treatment, which is all the way inspiring. (6) These same researchers also conducted a study on the immunological status of 34 HIV+ve patients. (7) After six months of individualised homeopathic treatment, 23 (67%) of the 34 subjects' immune profiles improved. Thirteen patients experienced a 0-10% increase in CD4 lymphocytes (a higher number of CD4 lymphocytes suggests a stronger immune response) and 10 patients experienced a greater than 10% increase. Because there is a tendency for people with HIV to have continually decreasing CD4 lymphocytes, this study suggests that homeopathic medicines provided a benefit to the subjects.

A San Francisco Bay Area homeopath, Lawrence Badgley, MD, reported on a six month study of 36 patients with AIDS whom he treated with homeopathic and other natural medicines. He observed a 13% increase in T4 helper cells and an average weight gain of two pounds. (8) AIDS tends to have increasingly degenerating effects on the body, and improvement in the immune profile and weight gain seem to be rarely experienced under conventional medical treatment.

TREATMENT OF PEOPLE WITH AIDS:

Despite the seemingly positive results that homeopathic medicines provide for people who are HIV+ve, for those with early onset of AIDS, and for those with nonextreme cases of AIDS. Select patients with advanced stages of AIDS experience dramatic improvement in their quality of life, Homeopathic medicines can also play an important role in the treatment of opportunistic infections. It is inspiring to know that significant and even substantial improvement is many a times possible with Homeopathic treatment.

It should be noted that people with AIDS occasionally develop a fever shortly after taking the correct homeopathic medicine. This fever is considered a beneficial response of the body to the remedy and should not be suppressed. Physiologists recognise the therapeutic value of fever as a response to infection, and homeopathic medicine seems to be one way to augment this healing response.

Homeopathic approach & concept is that of Holistic one i.e., Homeopathic medicines are prescribed on the basis of a person's unique pattern of symptoms. Highly individualised homeopathic treatment generally includes the use of homeopathic medicines, which are highly potentised (usually higher than the 200th potency).

Dr. Elliot Blackman, an osteopathic physician in San Francisco, occasionally prescribes Cyclosporin in homeopathic doses as an intercurrent medicine (an intercurrent medicine is one that is prescribed after another medicine which is individually determined). In conventional doses, Cyclosporin is an immunosuppressing drug, thus suggesting that it can be effective in homeopathic doses for treating people who have an immunosuppressed condition (this prescription is not "classical homeopathy" because each immunosuppressing drug creates its own unique pattern of symptoms, and the classical use of this drug would be more individualized).

In order to fully appreciate the potential of homeopathic medicine in the treatment of AIDS, it is useful to get some historical perspective as well as to investigate what homeopathy has to offer in the treatment of viral and immunological disorders. Homeopathy has an impressive history of successes in treating infectious disease, including many of the most serious and potentially fatal infectious diseases known to humankind. United States and Europe created tremendous support for this natural therapy. Death rates in homeopathic hospitals from cholera, typhoid, yellow fever, scarlet fever, and pneumonia were commonly one half to as little as one eighth those in conventional medical hospitals. Besides hospitals, prisons and insane asylums that employed physicians who were specialised in homeopathy experienced a similar success rate compared to other institutions under the care of conventional physicians. Although homeopathic medicines are not considered to have antiviral action as yet, their ability to augment the body's own defenses suggests that they have antiviral effects. One study on chicken embryo viruses showed that eight of ten homeopathic medicines tested inhibited the growth of the viruses by 50 to 100%. (9) A similar study done by the same researchers did find, however, that none of the four homeopathic medicines tested for their effects on a mouse virus had any effect. Taken together, these studies suggest that homeopathic medicines can have significant antiviral effects, but it is necessary to find the individualised remedy for each situation.
Homeopathic Treatment mainly depends upon three main approaches namely:
1) Constitutional TREATMENT Treatment (see Table No.1)
2) Miasmatic Treatment (see Table No.2)
3) Symptomatic Treatment (Holistic approach)

SYMPTOMATIC TREATMENT (HOLISTIC APPROACH):
Mental & Physical needs to be considered keenly so as to reach a true similimmum.
Apart from using Silicea & Cyclosporin medication can easily be considered according to the stages.

SUMMARY:

The history of homeopathy's successes in treating infectious disease epidemics, the research that suggests the immunomodulatory effects of homeopathic medicines, and the clinical research on HIV+ve and AIDS patients that indicates beneficial response to homeopathic medicines homeopathic medicine has been consistently ignored as a viable part of a comprehensive program in treating HIV+ve and AIDS patients. If this potentially valuable therapy will continue to be ignored the AIDS epidemic will continue to devastate our society.

REFRENCES:

1). G.F. Lemp, S. Payne, N. Dennese, et al., "Survival Trends for Patients with AIDS," JAMA, January
19, 1990, 263, 3:402-406.

2). Rene Dubos, The Mirage of Health. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1959, 93-94.

3). Claude Bernard, Principles de Medecine Experimentale. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France,
1947, 160-161.
4). I. Wolffers and S. de Moree, "Use of Alternative Treatments by HIV+ve and AIDS Patients in the Netherlands, Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd., February 5, 1994, 138(6):307-310.

5). D.P. Rastogi, V.P Singh, V. Singh, et al., "Evaluation of Homoeopathic Treatment in 129 Asymptomatic HIV Carriers," British Homoeopathic Journal, January 1993, 82:4-8.

6). D.P. Rastogi, V. Singh, S.K. Dey, et al., "Research Studies in HIV Infection with Homoeopathic Treatment," CCRH (The Indian Government's Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy) Quarterly Bulletin, 1993, 15, 3/4:1-6.

7). V. Singh, D.P. Rastogi, S.K. Dey, et al., "Homoeopathic Drugs as Immunomodulators: A Study of 34 HIV Subjects," International Conference on AIDS, August 7-12, 1994:10(1): 218 (abstract PB0301).

8). Laurence Badgley, Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, March 1987, 80:8-14.

9). L.M. Singh and G. Gupta, "Antiviral Efficacy of Homoeopathic Drugs Against Animal Viruses," British Homoeopathic Journal, July 1985, 74:168-174.

11). E. Davenas, B. Poitevin, and J. Benveniste, "Effect on Mouse Peritoneal Macrophages of Orally Administered Very High Dilutions of Silica," European Journal of Pharmacology, 1987, 135:313-319.

12). R. G. Gibson, et al., "Homoeopathic Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Evaluation by Double-Blind Clinical Therapeutic Trial," British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, September 1980, 9:453-459.

13). M. Bastide, et al., "Immunomodulatory Activity of Very Low Doses of Thymulin in Mice," International Journal of Immunotherapy, 1987, 3:191-200.

14) V. Daurat, P. Dorfman, and M. Bastide, "Immunomodulatory Activity of Low Doses of Interferon in Mice,” Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapeutics, 1988, 42:197-206.

15) Dana Ullman, Discovering Homeopathy, Berkeley: North Atlantic, 1991.

     MIASMATIC APPROACH
     (Take the case)