Genus epidemicus

Vergleich: Spenglersan.: Kolloiden.

Siehe: Homöopathie + Terms in Homöopathie + Homöopathische Epidemiebehandlung + Krankheiten + Anhang (David Little)

http://www.hersculaboratoryflu.org/tools/genusEpidemicus.html

[Harry van der Zee]

Genus epidemicus - A remedy for a disease

H. himself already laid down the foundation for successful treatment of epidemic diseases. The rule is very simple:

• Take a good number of cases and put their symptoms together

• Include all disease specific symptoms

• Exclude all patient specific symptoms

• Select one or more remedies based on the disease totality

In the American Homeopath (1998 – ‘As If One Patient’) Greg Bedayn describes how H. discovered how to treat epidemic diseases:

• ‘In 1799 H. first applied the genus epi; the single homeopathic remedy to treat a similarly affected population, during a scarlet fever epidemic he treated in Königslutter, Germany.

The story of how he accidentally discovered the genus epi is interesting: There was a large family that had members with scarlet fever.

H. noticed that one of the children who had been taking Belladonna for another reason did not have symptoms of scarlet fever. He discovered that by giving the other members of the

family Bell., as a prophylactic, they did not get scarlet fever. Hahnemann concluded that a remedy that rapidly cures at the onset of an illness would be the best preventative.

This serendipitous discovery led Hahnemann into developing the principle of genus epi - where if one takes the symptom-totality from each person in a epidemic population and then puts those features together into one case, as if one person, and gives the indicated simillimum to the entire affected population - that it will cure.’

This approach, as H. found out, worked well. Bedayn continues:

• ‘The curative results of the genus epi were so positive during the epidemics in the ensuing decades that they not only cured the majority of those affected where nothing else had worked, but they also drew international acclaim towards homeopathy, the new, the rational, medicine. There is something intrinsically powerful about the success of homeopathy in curing large populations that is undeniably attractive to anyone gifted with the power of observation, and it was through these early cures with epidemics that Hahnemann was able to quickly and widely spread the word: Homeopathy. It was from his discovery of the genus epi that Hahnemann later developed his theory of miasms; the taints that color and shape all family trees, as representing the basis of chronic disease.’

Hahnemann later writes about the genus epi principle in his ‘Organon’ §101:

• ‘It is possible that a physician meeting with the first case of a certain epidemic should fail to perceive at once its perfect image, because every collective disease of this kind will not manifest the totality of its symptoms and character until several cases have been carefully observed. But after having observed one or two cases of this kind a physician may approach the true condition of the epidemic that he is enabled to construe a true characteristic image of the same and to discover the true hom remedy.’

H. broadens this general principle in §102, when he says the complete knowledge is only to be obtained in a perfect manner by observations of the affections of several patients of different bodily constitutions.

Using this as-if-one-person approach homeopaths impressed the medical establishment with their results. Here are a few quotes to illustrate this:

• Epidemics in general: “In epidemics the mortality per 100 patients is 1/2 to 1/8 in homeopathic hospitals compared to allopathic hospitals.” (Dr. Thomas L. Bradford's ‘The Logic of Figures ...’ (1900)

‘Homeopathy had become very popular in North America during its early years due to its amazing successes obtained by the "old guard" during the epidemics - epidemics of diphtheria, scarlet fever, cholera, malaria, yellow fever - especially yellow fever; the death rate for that was 55% when allopathic treatment was used, but less than 5% in cases with homeopathic treatment; and it was the same for cholera. It is here with the "old guard" that homeopathy obtained its golden letters.’ (‘From its Roots Upwards’, Interview with André Saine, N.D., D.H.A.N.P., Vienna January 1994.)

“Ever since H. homeopathy has time and again been able to successfully treat epidemics/pandemics with a small number of remedies.” (Stahl, Hadulla, Richter, AHZ 2006)

• Cholera in Europe: “In den Ja 1830 und 1831 wurden in Russland in den von Cholera ergriffenen Gouvernements Saratoff, Tambtoff und Twer 1270 Patienten homöopatisch behandelt: 1162 davon genasen, 108 starben... d Verhältnis dem Ergebnisse der homöopatische Behandlung der Cholera in Ungarn, Mähren und Wien fast ganz gleich ist.” (Gebhardt 1929) (Of 1270 Russian cholera patients treated with homeopathy only 108 died which is ± 8%)

“When in the year 1854 cholera came to Palermo 1513 soldiers fell ill ... Of these 902 were treated with allopathy of which 386 died, a bit more than 42%; 611 were treated with homeopathy, of which only 25, so almost 4%, died.” “In the abovementioned years cholera also visited the Caribbean, and on the ‘pearl’ of these islands, Barbados, 2113 people fell ill. Of the 346 treated with allopathy 154 died, but of the 1767 treated with homeopathy only 370.” (Gebhardt 1929)

• Cholera in USA: 3% of the cholera patients under homeopathic treatment died (Cincinnati 1849). Mortality rate of cholera patients under allopathic treatment was 40-70%.

• Spanish influenza: Homeopathic treatment of the Spanish influenza during the pandemic of 1914-1918 was effective (Isaac Golden, Vaccination & Homeoprophylaxis? A Review of Risks and Alternatives).

“Homeopathy has been used with great degree of success in influenza and other epidemics for 200 years … In 1918 flu pandemic homeopaths reported around 1% mortality in their cases, while conventional doctors were losing 30% of their patients.” (www.life.us/flu)

NB! The Spanish influenza virus we know now was an avian virus. 40 million people died in just 18 months.

“Dr.T.A. McCann from Dayton, Ohio reported that 24,000 cases of flu treated allopathically had a mortality rate of 28.2% while 26,000 cases of flu treated homeopathically had a mortality rate of 1.05%. This last figure was supported by Dean W.A. Pearson of Philadelphia (Hahnemann College) who collected 26,795 cases of flu treated with homeopathy with the above result. Dr. Herbert A Roberts from Derby, CT, said that 30 physicians in Connecticut responded to his request for data. They reported 6,602 cases with 55 deaths, which is less than 1%.” (The Journal of the American Institute for Homeopathy, May 1921)

“The most severe epidemic of all time was the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918. 20% of the entire world population was infected and 20-40 million people died. The epidemic was so devastating that the average lifespan in the United States was decreased by ten years. During this epidemic homeopathic medicines were used widely both for treatment and as prophylaxis. The average mortality under standard treatment ran from 2.5-10%, while 1% or fewer patients died under homeopathic treatment.” (Homeoprophylaxis Fact or Fiction - Todd Hoover MD)

• Yellow Fever in USA: The success of the homeopathic treatment of yellow fever was so great that the report of the United States Government's Board of Experts mentioned several homeopathic remedies, despite the aversion to homeopathy of some of its members. (Haris Coulter, ‘Divided legacy’). (Treated in allopathic hospitals the mortality was around 55% and homeopathy decimated that percentage!).

These are clearly impressive figures, certainly if we compare them with the results of contemporary studies. If homeopathy could come up with similar significant results in our time and age general acceptance might follow a lot easier.

Building On The Past:

Infectious diseases and miasm.

In his Organon at §78 Hahnemann declares that true natural chronic diseases are those that arise from a chronic miasm. In his analysis H. defines three miasm: Psora, Sycosis and Syphilis, of which

in modern terms Psora could be seen as the mother of all chronic diseases. According to Hahnemann uncured miasm cannot be eradicated by the life force (§79) and only homeopathy can do this. A too bold a statement I believe for the like cures like principle is broader than homeopathy but a general law underlying all creation. More miasm have been recognise since Hahnemann. Not all homeopaths are accepting them that easily, but I have no doubt that somewhere in the future it will be broadly accepted and recognise that many influences besides infectious diseases, let be only

the three Hahnemann pointed out, determine the state of health and can cause a miasmatic disturbance. It is very clear to me that our understanding of miasm needs to be updated to be able to bring homeopathic treatment of collective issues to a higher level.

Miasma’s and Process:

My own understanding of the miasm underwent a revolutionary change based on an accidental observation that I made. Knowing the work of Stanislav Grof (psychiatrist) on the birth experience

I noticed a marked analogy between Hahnemann’s miasm and the stages of birth (See the books ‘Miasm in Labour’ and ‘Homeopathy for Birth Trauma’). I’m not going to repeat all of what I’ve written on the subject here but will summarise some conclusions relevant to this article:

• The birth process shows us life in a nutshell. All phases of human development and of the individuation process are represented. Analysis of an individual birth shows amazing similarity to the

state observed later in life, so the birth experience already displays the central theme of an individual. Birth is not causing that state but expressing it, since in cases where there is information from pregnancy, conception or beyond the same patterns can be observed.

• All the miasm we have come to recognise -psora, sycosis, syphilis, tubercular, cancer, leprous etc- can be clearly retraced as belonging specifically to a certain phase in the birth process, and the main remedies representing them can be understood using the symbolical language of that aspect of the birth experience. Since birth is a process it became clear that miasm are related to development, and each of them to a specific phase or theme in development, both on an individual as also a collective level.

• Miasm have a role and serve a purpose. In homeopathy we have only highlighted the pathological side of them, the results of something going wrong during development.

• Disease induces change within an individual, and miasmatic diseases that we could also call collective diseases, induce change within society, the group, tribe, nation or mankind as a whole.

• Diseases and miasm induce the development of qualities within an individual and within humanity. Miasm are subconscious Archetypes. Only if the normal process of development and growth

is blocked diseases can come forward to bring this to awareness and to induce the change needed.

• Diseases and miasm are both the problem as well as the key to growth. Actually diseases and miasm are the teachers of mankind, and in infectious diseases microorganisms carry the message.

• 95% of our DNA stems from viruses and bacteria. This means that these germs bring pieces of information to us and that integrating these pieces is what drives evolution. This also makes very clear why killing the bug, allopathy, can never support the role and purpose of the disease, and forces the organism to own the same lesson following a different route, one that can be expected to involve more suffering. This is the deeper meaning of suppression.

Logics of Miasm:

• Symptoms are a sign of the Dynamis restoring balance (Hahnemann)

• A disease is a combination of symptoms

• A disease is a sign of the Dynamis restoring balance in an individual by bringing it to a higher level of functioning. That balance is restored does not mean that the individual is brought back to

a previous state, but rather moved on to a new one that includes the qualities induced by the disease.

• An epidemic disease is a sign of the collective Dynamis restoring balance and inducing growth and awareness in a group

• Miasm can be expressed in humanity through a variety of afflictions

• Miasm are a sign of the Dynamis restoring balance and inducing growth in the collective

• Epidemic outbreaks are acute collective manifestations of this process involving a large group, whereas miasmatic diseases are more of a chronic expression of the same energy afflicting those individuals that apparently work on the same issues in their individual development.

• Epidemics that are endemic for long periods of time, like malaria and TB, are concerned with major shifts in humanity that take many generations.

When in 2005 Peter Chappell was in Rwanda to treat AIDS he soon found out that on top of AIDS people were especially still suffering from the genocide that took place ten years before.

He recognised this to be a collective trauma that should be dealt with using the genus epidemicus approach. He prepared a resonance that he called PC War/Genocide Trauma and gave that first to

his patients that responded remarkably well. This feeling as if it had happened yesterday, the flashbacks, nightmares and all other ways in which this traumatic miasm was being expressed in them,

all of this subsided rapidly. (PC Resonances are not the subject of this article and could be replaced with other remedies based on an analysis of genocide or any other disease or trauma totality.

See www.peterchappell.com and ‘The Second Simillimum’ for more information on PC Resonances).

So I decided not to individualise this case but, to start treating the genocide trauma using the above mentioned PC Resonance: PC304x 5 drops daily. The response was wonderful!

Five weeks later: “I am very much surprised. There is a change I had never expected to be possible. I feel a completely different person. A dramatic change. For a short period I continued crying

but since then it has not come back. It is a completely new period. I feel optimism, trust, love for life. It is miraculous. This weeping has travelled with me all of my life. The last couple of years it

was constantly there. Before that in episodes.

I dream again, quite lucid, remember them better. My sleep is much deeper and I waken up less. On waking up in the morning I am okay.

No more panic or fear of being abandoned. I can continue with my life like this. I’m no longer afraid to move on, to be forsaken. A great trust has come. It is okay what happens or is about to happen. There is more peace inside. I can enjoy the simple things of life again. Before this all joy was lacking.

Before I started taking this remedy I had the feeling being wiped out, taking no space. I just as well might not be there. Now I take a space and that has meaning.”

Two months later there was no further improvement and we discontinued the drops. She says now: “A complete layer has been dealt with, this layer of collective grief. The insecurities I have now have to do with every day practicalities. Like building my house. Then I feel a lack of stability and go back to the time our family was broken up. Like a sea without borders. I love the sea because it gives space, quiet and openness.

In the morning I have a bit troubles starting the day, a little sadness. In the evenings I am feeling great. What I didn’t tell you before is that I have a strong fear of spiders. Since the last couple of months my menses has returned.”

So she’s free now from the collective trauma and the complaints she still has now she relates to her own history, for which now a personal simillimum is indicated.

Regarding her personal trauma the broken relationship with her mother is essential. She was disconnected from her mother, causing feelings of forsakenness and insecurity. This definitely happened at the age of nine when her mother could no longer cope it, but also before that time her mother was depressed and not the source of warmth and comfort she needed. Later in her life we see a tendency toward bulimia with a desire for sweet dairy products, including ice cream and chocolate.

In short, she received one dose of Lac humanum MK and eleven weeks later she reports:

“I’m beautifully out of the dependency in my recent relationship (a friend she got after her divorce). I’m on my own feet now. There have been no dips any more and my base has become firmer. All the symptoms that have improved on the first remedy never returned. Since this last remedy my asthma is a lot better, my stomach problems are gone and I no longer have abdominal pains.

I dream about my recent relationship. I dreamed of getting a clear view by literally putting on other glasses to be able to see further away.”

Three months later: “I’m totally fine and suggest to cancel the appointment. I’ll contact you in case anything new will come up.”

Of course we do not know what would have happened had I started with Lac humanum, but I honestly doubt whether she would have responded as she had done now. By fully clearing up the collective trauma just one dose of her simillimum was enough to clear up all the remaining symptoms and to my knowledge a repetition of either remedy has not been indicated until today.

Trauma and Miasm

Let us look at an example of collective trauma in our time:

Kashmir (Washington Post September 2008)

“The number of patients seeking mental health services surged at the state psychiatric hospital, from 1,700 when the unrest began to more than 100,000…

The patients have insomnia, learning disabilities, anxiety disorders and what Kashmiri therapists call the ‘midnight-knock syndrome’, a fear stemming from the many pre-dawn raids by Indian security forces aimed at rooting out suspected insurgents…

Mental health groups estimate that 60,000 Kashmiris committed suicide last year, a record number, said Mushtaq Margoob, head of the Government Psychiatric Diseases Hospital in Srinagar…

More than 15 percent of Kashmiris are afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a recent study by Margoob … In January, the army recruited 400 psychiatrists after more than 100 soldiers, including officers, killed themselves … "etc.

The symptom in all these people described above may differ, but it is very clear to me that an as-if-one-person approach would be very effective in a fast majority of the cases. And this is only Kashmir. I’m writing this part of the article on my way to Burundi and East Congo, another area full of heavily traumatised people. Just watch the news for some time and you can see that many millions of people are suffering from collective trauma. It’s the collective that is ill, out of balance, and it’s the collective that needs to be treated. If we don’t see that and act accordingly we will never be able to heal these collective derangements. For in the time we need to treat one single traumatised patient using individualised treatment ten new ones get traumatised. It is also a lot more practical to start with a genus epidemicus remedy – genus traumaticus if you like – and to later individualise those cases where the collective approach is not enough. Following such a strategy we would be able to help many more patients and perhaps even be able to induce a real change in the collective.

It seems as if unresolved trauma lies at the basis of many chronic conditions. If we look at the language of Vital Sensation these are all expressions of trauma. These are sensations fitting a traumatic experience to a life form.

Some ideas on the role of trauma:

• An Individual Trauma can express itself in an Individual Disease. This is something we know from experience. For instance an unresolved grief can be expressed in recurrent throat infections, or as a result of sexual abuse a woman can have recurrent bladder infections.

• Trauma is hereditary. See the case above. See also the work of Hellinger. If we go a few generations back there are lots of traumas that can be at the root of symptoms we come across in our patients. These include wars, periods of starvation and crashing stock markets, stillborn babies, rape, incest etc.

• A Collective Disease can follow a Collective Trauma. A good example is cholera following the horror of war. Interesting to see that for instance Cuprum is a remedy fitting both war (the typical Cuprum state is that of a soldier) and cholera. Of course there are also circumstances on the physical level like lack of clean drinking water etc but that doesn’t mean that trauma at the energetic level is not an essential part of the expression of the disease. By looking solely at material manifestations and circumstances school medicine denies energetic disturbances in many conditions. Let’s not make that same mistake. Besides that we know from research that traumatic events cause malfunctioning of the immune system, so circumstances and susceptibility come together to create disease.

• The language of the Vital Sensation is the language of Trauma. If we read all the different ways a vital sensation is expressed this becomes very obvious. Whether it is being pressed together, falling to pieces, torn apart, exploded, scattered etc. These are all very physical expression of ways in which the integrity of an organism can be threatened.

• There seems to be a chain reaction:

o Trauma - Miasm

o Miasm - Infection

o Infection - Genetic damage (genetic trauma)

o Genetic damage - Chronic Disease

• Collective trauma

Epidemic; a collective trauma can be both cause and effect of an epidemic; if for instance due to Avian Flu millions of people die that causes a trauma to many more million survivors. And staying with that example the fear and panic that comes up if such an epidemic is broad-casted is the first symptom of the epidemic, the first way in which the collective shows signs and symptoms before

or without the virus itself ever reaching the individual.

• Trauma seems to be Primary. So in the chain of diseases and traumatic events - a limited two-dimensional way of cause and effect - it seems with that the wheel starts turning.

• Separation, the delusion that we are separated instead of one, the mythological departure from paradise, is the Basic Trauma.

Follow the river to its source:

If we look at the role homeopathy can play in the world it makes sense to analyse what would be the most effective way of using our resources – the knowledge on how to heal using the law of similars that is present in a considerable but limited number of homeopaths.

• Treating individuals and their miasmatic diseases alone is clearly not enough.

• Besides treating miasmatic effects we can and should treat the causes.

• These causes start as trauma or infectious and epidemic diseases - often based on trauma.

• The roots of miasm lie in collective themes as the infectious and epidemic diseases causing them, or the bacteria and viruses instrumental in them, have nothing to do with the individual.

• To be able to effectively address miasm at an earlier phase, we need to understand and treat the totality of these collective diseases.

• The totality on which we base our prescriptions to treat collective derangements of the vital force (trauma and epidemic diseases) should include the symptoms & the role and purpose of

the disease.

• Chronic diseases that prevail in a certain culture or era have strong collective roots. The more prevalent they are the less important an individual approach becomes, and the more important it is to treat the collective issues. E.g. obesity and diabetes mellitus in our time and age.

• Ideally we always do both if one approach doesn’t fully cure – treat the individual and the collective picture.

• Practical is to start as early as possible with the collective before it branches off in a variety of individual expressions.

Homeopathy for the World:

So I feel that homeopathy needs to develop a practical approach to make its best asset top priority. Treating the collective is what we do best and is what has a larger curative and prophylactic impact on humanity. Treating the collective is like using a wider filter that will take out the big chunks effectively. The smaller chunks that it lets through can be filtered out using the more refined filter of individual treatment. By overemphasising the individual expression of collective issues our filters are clogged by a lot of collective debris and the effects of individual treatment is therefore often limited.

• The higher purpose of homeopathy on a global level is to know what needs to be cured in the world, a continent, country, society etc.

• For this we need to be able to read the signs and symptoms of our time.

• An epidemic is an expression of a need for collective change.

• Treating today’s trauma is preventing tomorrow’s epidemics.

• Treating today’s epidemics is preventing tomorrow’s chronic diseases.

• Healing today’s collective diseases is preventing tomorrow’s individual diseases.

Impossible?

This sounds very ambitious, and it is. It may take decades to make this vision a reality. Impossible? Here are some quotes from the past that history falsified:

• “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” (Lord Kelvin, president of the Royal Society, 1895)

• “Unworthy of the attention of practical and scientific men.” (British Parliamentary Committee report on Edison’s electric light bulb)

• “X-rays will prove to be a hoax.” (Lord Kelvin, president of the Royal Society, 1883)

To use a more contemporary quote: “Yes we can.” With the emphasis on we. In theory this is what homeopathy can; to make it a reality it needs dedication and doing by us, homeopaths. At the end of the article I will give some short cases showing what is already a reality using this approach in Africa.

Homeopathy Should Take Its Responsibility in Epidemics!

The easiest and most practical way of starting to address collective derangements of the vital force is by treating epidemics. There are lots of reasons why this is a more than good idea and why luckily several homeopaths are practicing this, especially in developing countries:

• Because it creates no side-effects

• Because it is safe for pregnant women, babies and elderly people

• Because it is not expensive

• Because production, storage and distribution is simple

• Because it does not induce therapy resistance

• Because it does not create more dangerous viruses and bacteria

• Because it has been effective in many epidemics in the past is effective in today’s epidemics

Strategies that need to be developed:

• For treating collective trauma

• For treating epidemics

• For treating chronic diseases in the case the individual Simillimum alone is not sufficient

• For inducing Wellness and Spiritual Growth – this is another step we can make to enhance peace and health. Without it being the main reason for performing them doing provings is an expression of this possibility. Hahnemann himself already said that doing a proving is beneficial for the prover. It awakens people. By doing provings on a larger scale, meaning including many individuals world-wide, and by selecting substances that address the needs of our time, collective wellness and spiritual growth can be stimulated.

Genus morbicus:

We need to broaden the genus epidemicus principle to include other collective conditions that can be approached using the ‘as-if-one-person’ principle, either with or without complementary individual treatment. The following terms we could use:

• Genus epidemicus

o Based on the totality of the symptoms of an epidemic disease

• Genus traumaticus

o Based on the totality of the symptoms of collective or endemic trauma

• Genus endemicus

o Based on the totality of the symptoms of an endemic disease

• Genus chronicus

o Based on the totality of the symptoms of a chronic disease

Super Simillimum:

The ideal simillimum for a patient would include all typical symptoms:

• Those that individualise the patient, including the vital sensation, and

• Those that individualise the disease.

In some rare indications we see this in patients, like in a Mercurius case of colitis ulcerosa, where the characteristics of the patients as also of the disease all fall within the totality of the remedy.

Chronic diseases: prescribe for …

The reality of homeopathic practice is that a super simillimum is only rarely found. In all other cases the homeopath has several options to prescribe on:

1. The patient

2. The causal factor (infection/trauma)

3. The consequence (miasm)

4. The expression (chronic disease)

5. Any combination or sequence of 1-4

A simple and workable motto in where to start if indeed several totalities are discovered in a patient is: start with what is staring you in the face! In advanced cases of chronic diseases as also in epidemic diseases and serious trauma starting with that is to be advised for several reasons:

1. The individual simillimum is often hard to discover as the energy of the condition is overruling it.

2. The individual simillimum has only very limited or even no effect because of the same reason.

3. It works in practice and is the reason why also clinical homeopaths have their success cases.

A New Source:

In homeopathy until today remedies have been used coming from material sources. These include the imponderables like Sol and Magnetis as also these originate from material sources.

Immaterial sources have to my knowledge hardly been used, and if so met with great skepticism. Their basis is consciousness and since nobody can see that under a microscope or put it into a mortar the reserve is understandable. This doesn’t mean though that this source can and should not be used.

I’m sure there are many ways, either based on spiritual practice or technology, in which remedies based on conscious purposely design can be made. My personal experience is limited to those prepared by Peter Chappell. In his search for a simillimum for AIDS in Africa he couldn’t find a suitable remedy in the then existing materia medica and found a way to create a simillimum without the use of material substance (see www.ARHF.nl).

He has named his first remedy PC1 and developed many others later, which together are referred to as PC Resonances.

[Dr.K.N. Mathur]

Near Specifics

Anthrac.: Carbuncles with burning pain

Aur-met.: Atrophy of testicles in boys

Zinc-p.: Brain fog of businessmen – lower potencies

Thymol.: Hookworms

Stict.: Sleeplesness due to nervousness Tincture to 2x

[John Minz, Canton, Ohio, mid-1800's]

Finding the Genus Epidemicus

H. describes the process of determining the genus epidemicus concisely. in his Organon: aph. 101:

Usually the physician does not immediately perceive the complete picture of the epidemic in the first case that he treats. since the collective disease reveals itself in the totality

of signs and symptoms only after several cases have been closely observed. Nevertheless. an observant physician can often come so close after seeing only one or two patients

that he becomes aware of the characteristic picture of the epidemic and can already find its appropriate homoeopathic remedy.

Organon: aph. 102

From writing down the symptoms of several cases of this sort. the outline of the disease picture becomes more and more complete - not more extensive and wordy. but more characteristic. containing

more accurately the peculiarity of the particular collective disease. The ordinary symptoms -loss of appetite. sleeplessness. etc.- become more precisely qualified. and those that are more exceptional

special and in the circumstances unusual and belong to only a few diseases. reveal themselves and constitute the characteristic picture of this epidemic.

All those who catch an epidemic at a particular time have a disease flowing from the same source and therefore the same disease. But the entire scope of such an epidemic disease. the totality of its

symptoms (which we need to know in order to grasp the whole disease picture and choose an appropriate remedy for it) cannot be perceived in any one patient. but can be fully distilled and gathered

only from the sufferings of several patients with different physical constitutions.

In subsequent cases either the appropriateness of the homoeopathic remedy chosen in the first cases will be corroborated or else a more appropriate one. the most appropriate one. will be revealed to

the physician.

Examples from a Pertussis Epidemic

As a specific example of this process. in a cluster of cases of Pertussis I treated in November-December of 1996. early cases I saw yielded the following repertorizations:

Pertussis Case 1 Pertussis Case 2

Pertussis Case 3 Pertussis Case 4

Cases 1. 2 and 4 lack sufficiently characterizing symptoms to indicate a clear remedy choice. Case 3 however reveals a clear picture of Corallium rubrum. with the highly characterizing symptoms

of copious postnasal discharge and vomiting of stringy mucus.

These 4 cases taken together. "As if of one person". provide a group anamnesis of this particular epidemic of pertussis:

Corallium rubrum Cases 1 & 2 were treated when first seen with Drosera and Kali bichromicum. respectively; but did not respond to these initial reasonable prescriptions.

After the initial several cases seen confirmed the genus epidemicus to be Corallium rubrum. these early cases were re-treated successfully. and Coral-r. served to effectively treat 12 of 14 cases

seen in this cluster; and was used with apparent success in the homoeoprophylaxis of numerous siblings and playmates of the cases seen.

Potency and dosage for prophylactic treatment are guided by the same issues that guide the treatment of active disease; largely. the dynamic nature of the illness. the vitality and sensitivity of the

individual patient and most importantly, what you happen to have on hand at the time. In general. the lower potencies suffice. I'll commonly use 12C or 30C. occasionally 200C. and on rare occasions

have used 1M potencies in prophylaxis.

Single doses in pellet form are clearly effective in prophylaxis. conferring a good window of protection; but as most epidemic illnesses I encounter have a drawn-out presence in the community.

I generally prefer to give the remedy in repeated doses of gradually ascending potency in medicinal solution.

A typical regimen for a highly virulent disease such as scarlatina (for the patient of average vitality and sensitivity) would be to put 1 pellet of 12C. 30C or 200C in 1 ounce of distilled water in

a small dropper bottle; and dose 2 drops daily after 4 succussions of the bottle. for the duration of the epidemic in the community. An alternative is to use 1 pellet in 4 oz distilled water in a larger

bottle. with a ½ tsp dose after 4 succussions. Dosing is reduced in patients judged of lower vitality +/o. higher sensitivity.

During the more lengthy 'flu season. I'll often recommend weekly (rather than daily) repetition in a similar manner. In patients considered particularly at risk of complications from the 'flu'. I might

anticipate the epidemic -until a genus epidemicus is clear- by using Anas barabare 8 (the commercial preparations are 200C). 1-2 pellets in 1oz distilled water. in this same manner. dosed once weekly.

This frequency of repetition has as much to do with the pace of the disease and the (similar) pace of the remedy as it does with the duration of the epidemic. Scarlatina generally has a rapid and furious pace.

calling for a simillimum (Bell.) with a matching pace and more limited duration of action. Influenza more often has a more indolent pace. calling for a simillimum of matching slow pace (Bry. Gels.)

and longer duration of action. There are no recipes here which can be followed in cook-book fashion; rather. consider the dosing directions above as examples. and allow yourself to be guided more

by your clinical experience in homoeopathic treatment for the cases at hand.

[Allyson McQuinn]

Leptospira ictero-hemorrhagica in Cuba: The prophylaxis consisted of 2 single doses about 2 weeks apart. Included in the dose was the Lepto nosode + some Bach flower remedies to address the mental distress of the disaster situation.

[Vosloo]

Mastitis: Phytolacca

[Dr. G.H.G. Jahr]

The best remedy for acute parotitis is Merc, in most cases a specific.

[Torako Yui]

Effects of HPV vaccine: Alum.

[George Royal]

Mag-p.: cured hiccough most frequently. There are several cases on record where the condition had been of long standing speedily cured. With one case the hiccoughs at times occurred 30x per minute. The patient’s life had been in danger for two months. Tab.

[Allen]

"Epidemien. die im Januar und Februar auftreten. verlangen häufig Mezereum."

[Peter Alex]

Aur-ars. Is specific for Borreliose

[C.M.F. Boenninghausen]

Opium in Alcoholism

[Deborah Olenev]

Genus for tennis elbow: Ruta

[Dr. Roger Morrison]

Bar-m.: almost a specific for aneurysm of the aorta (thoracic or abdominal).

[E.B. Nash]

Cicuta virosa was tried for cerebro-spinal meningitis by Dr. Baker. of Moravia. N.Y. who cured. during an epidemic 60 cases of all degrees of malignancy. without the loss of a single case.

This is a wonderful record and he thinks it is as near a specific for this disease as can be.

Ant-t. the nearest to a specific for cholera morbus of any remedy. For more than 25 years I have seldom found it necessary to use any other.

and then only when there were severe cramps in the stomach and bowels which Cupr-met. relieved.

Ant-c.: diarrhoea # constipation. oftenest found with old people, the only remedy

[W.A. Dewey]

Chorea: Baehr claims Cupr-met. will cure most cases of chorea. It is indicated where the choreic movements start in the muscles of the fingers and toes and ext. limbs.

[Dr. W.H. Dickinson]

Bry.: claimed that in seven out of every ten cases of typhoid for which Bryonia was indicated. it would be the only remedy indicated. because the symptoms

of the drug correspond to those of every stage of typhoid.

[E.A. Farrrington]

The remedy to permanently cure billiary calculi is Chin. Unless some symptoms call you specifically to another drug. put your patient on a course of Chin.

[Dr. P.C. Majumbar]

Cupr-met.: In Asiatic cholera in its various stages and when given according to indications. cures the patient at once.

Intermittent Neuralgia of well defined periodicity. i.e. nervous pains of well defined duration. which come at a certain time and disappear at a certain time every day. Chinin-s. is a specific

of the first degree. which never failed me. unless the patient had before taken Chinin-s. in massive doses.

[Dr. C.G. Jahr]

Bar-c.: For Steatoma (Lipoma) the principal remedy.

[Dr. J.T. Kent]

Naja: Valvular troubles of the heart. in young persons with cardiac valvular diseases. If the valvular trouble is congenital it cannot be cured. In school boys and

girls who have no symptoms. this is the generic remedy for this kind of complaint. Always prescribe Naja unless guided away from it by some specific symptom

[C.M.F. Von Boenninghausen]

Pocken: Thuja is a Specific

[Dr. Franz Hartmann]

Puls: the specific remedy in otitis where the external and internal inflammations run a parallel course. both break out simultaneously. and equally acute and violent.

[Krishnamurti]

Polyp-p. C 10.000 is almost a specific for Chikungunya given in one single dose.

[Dr. Manish Bhatia]

Chin.: almost a specific for Chikungunya

[E.A. Farrington]

Restless legs: a common symptom of nervous persons - they cannot sit still. or they must keep the legs in constant motion

[Dr. E.P. Anshutz]

Lap-a.: Scrofulous enlargement of the cervical glands. it is almost specific where the glands have a certain amount of elasticity and pliability about them. rather than a stony hardness

[Gawlik]

Sec.: Burning-feet-Syndrom (< Wärme)

[Clarke]

Nose bleed - Ferr-pic. almost a specific for nose bleeding. 3^rd trituration is recommended.

[Bayes]

Sol-carolinense: good clinical record in explosive and spasmodic coughs. and is recommended by eclectic physicians as almost specific.

Bell. 200 C in preventing Leptospirosis in Cuba is documented on the PUB-MED website. According to the PUB-MED published in 2010:

“A homeoprophylactic formulation was prepared from dilutions of four circulating strains of Leptospirosis. This formulation was administered orally to 2.3 million persons at high risk in an

epidemic in a region affected by natural disasters.

The data from surveillance were used to measure the impact of the intervention by comparing with historical trends and non-intervention regions.

Karbunkel: Anhraci. = auch präventiv

Xanthium spinosum: specific for hydrophobia and is recommended for chronic cystitis in women.

[Dr. Schwartz]

Ant-c. Arthritis deformans a near specific (extreme tenderness of the soles of the feet).

[Ulrich Welte]

Grippe 2014 - 2015: Scilla. Hydr-ac.

[Dr. Vickie Menear]

The remedy most closely fitting the symptoms of the 1914 “flu” virus. Crot-h.. also fits the Ebola virus nearly 95% symptom-wise!

Crot-h. Both. Lach. Phos. Merc.

[Dr. med. Helmut B. Retzek]

Am Abend. nach einem Seminar. wenn die Homöopathen so rumsitzen und quatschen. erfährt man viele spannende Anekdoten. irgendeinen aufregenden Fall. irgendeine bemerkenswerte Begebenheit innerhalb eines komplexen Falles. Viele dieser "Kleinigkeiten" sind bemerkenswerte Beobachtungen. die evtl. anderen Kollegen bei einem ähnlich gelagerten Problem oder Fall

helfen könnten oder einfach ein tieferes Arzneimittel-Verständnis geben.

Ein Beispiel aus der EH: "… Dr. Kissel behandelte 93 Fälle rechtsseitiger Pneumonie mit Nasenbluten aus dem rechten Nasenloch. Appetitverlust + verlangt kalte Getränken. Stechen l.

Thorax verhindert das Atmen. Druck hinterm Sternum. muss sich zum Atmen aufsetzen um nicht zu ersticken. kollaptisches Bild mit blassem Gesicht. drohender Lungenlähmung. mit Cupr-acet. (Hoyne T.S. Vol II. S. 227)"

Das ist doch tatsächlich eine fantastische Beobachtung! Jedenfalls bemerkenswert. weil uns dieser kurze Beitrag die Arznei als wichtige. weil lebensrettende Arznei bei einer schwersten Epidemie beschreibt. mit ihrem Hauptwirkungsort und wichtigen differenzierenden Nebensymptomen. sie damit also homöopathisch korrekt verschreibbar wird - und er fehlt im Repertorium!

Pocken: Bell.

In an epidemic in Wavre, Sarracenia was given to 2000 persons. All who took it escaped the disease. 200 cases were treated with Sarracenia without a death. Aborts the disease and arrests

pustules. > in fresh air and out of bed. < midnight and 15 h./trying to walk/cold air (< Bone pains).

[Will Taylor]

H. suggested Camphora as the homoeoprophylactic simillimum for the approaching epidemic of Asiatic Cholera.

Boenninghausen had some excellent success in using Thuja occidentalis in this manner in the prophylactic treatment of smallpox.

This can only be done for those diseases that H. would class as "acute miasms" - diseases that "recur in the same manner and are therefore known by a traditional name".

As an example Scarlatina (scarlet fever) by Hahnemann in 1799 in Königslutter.

We know that this acute miasmatic disease -although certainly individually variable to some extent in its individual presentation- commonly presents with a high. dry.

continued fever. very often with delirium during the fever; with inflammation of the posterior pharynx with enlarged tonsils and pain on swallowing and hoarseness

of the voice; with anterior cervical adenopathy; with a characteristic red sandpaper rash; with cracked lips. fissured tongue. and prominent papillae of the tongue

which may form the characteristic strawberry-tongue appearance; and with nasal coryza.

From the Synthesis 8.0 Repertory. we were able to select the following rubrics to represent these common. or generic symptoms of Scarlatina:

FEVER - CONTINUED fever - eruptive

FEVER - INTENSE heat

FEVER - DRY heat

MIND - DELIRIUM - fever - during

THROAT - PAIN - swallowing

THROAT - SWELLING - Tonsils

LARYNX AND TRACHEA - VOICE - hoarseness

EXTERNAL THROAT - SWELLING - Cervical Glands

SKIN - ERUPTIONS - rash

SKIN - DISCOLORATION - red

SKIN - ERUPTIONS - desquamating

FACE - CRACKED - Lips

MOUTH - CRACKED - Tongue fissured

MOUTH - PAPILLAE of tongue - erect + strawberry etc...

NOSE - CORYZA

Analyzing these results in: Scarlatina analysis

Bell.: The striking similitude of Belladonna to the generic/undifferentiated picture of Scarlatina stands out.

Closely following Bell. in this analysis are Apis. Lach. Merc. Rhus-t.. and Arum triphyllum.

These remedies address the essential characteristics of scarlatina -the genus of the disease- but they do so in their own varied manners. each differing somewhat from

the generic. undifferentiated similarity of Belladonna to the scarlatina disease-state.

In the mid-1800's. John Minz. Canton. Ohio. was faced with an epidemic of scarlatina not responsive to the remedies in common use. An excoriating nasal discharge in conjunction with a few other symptoms peculiar to this individual epidemic led him to select Arum triphyllum for this cluster of cases. which he applied with great success. This individualization to a particular occurrence of an epidemic will be described below. as the selection of a genus epidemicus.

The success of the two approaches outlined above -the use of the acute-disease nosode. and the identification of a genus remedy for the acute miasm- may hinge on the

temporal behavior of acute illnesses. In their earliest stages. these diseases are often ill defined. or generic in appearance; in flu. there is a mild poorly-defined malaise

with confusion in temperature regulation; in measles. fever with morbiliform rash on the forehead and mild coryza; etc. As the individual case of disease evolves.

differentiating features then appear which further characterize the case and point to an individually specific simillimum; but early on. this less-differentiated disharmony

may respond to a remedy bearing more generic similarity.

When the genus epidemicus does not fit the case

The genus epidemicus may fail to act -prophylactically and in treatment of active epidemic disease- when the reaction of the patient is dictated more by the pre-existing chronic disease

of the patient than by the virulence of the acute miasmatic organism.

We might imagine (somewhat simplistically) that the direction a disharmony takes in any particular case of disease is a balancing act between the direction a morbid

influence is trying to push us. and the direction in which we are naturally inclined to fall.

For most of the population. it seems that the 'flu' virus is a virulent-enough agent that we mostly fall ill in the same manner. in relative disregard to our individual

situations. But for those whose dynamis is occupied with an active chronic disease. the reaction to the 'flu' virus may have more to do with the disharmony of that

pre-existing disease of the person than it does with the reaction that the rest of the population experiences to the virus.

Consequently. their 'flu' is unique. and does not bear similitude to the genus epidemicus that prevails in the larger community. If their chronic disharmony can in its

own individual manner embrace the disharmony invited by the 'flu virus'. the 'flu' takes on an individual character in that patient.

If the chronic disharmony of the patient is sufficiently dissimilar to the demands made by the virus. the patient may even be "protected" from this acute illness by

their chronic dissimilar disease. We all have seen cases like this. where our patient is impressed that they have avoided colds and flu for the past several years.

despite being debilitated by (e.g.) chronic rheumatoid arthritis.

As an example of this. during the '97-98 'flu epidemic. a patient presented ill with 'flu'. with acute symptoms indicating Bry. and clearly not fitting the

Eupatorium perfoliatum genus epidemicus which at that point had already seemed to be well-established for that 'flu' season.

She responded nicely to Bryonia. prescribed on her individual picture. and later returned (inspired by this successful treatment) for attention to some chronic complaints.

She had long-standing gynecologic symptoms and premenstrual irritability. and Sepia was found as a clear simillimum to her chronic case. Bry. a common complementary remedy to Sepia (one of the classic pairings of our MM). and it became clear why. when the 'flu' virus came to town. she more easily fell into this complementary Bryonia state than the Eupatorium state that was affecting the larger community.

For individuals with active chronic disease. the most effective strategy for epidemic prophylaxis may be to treat with the simillimum for the pre-existing chronic disease of the patient. rather than focusing on the acute disease as it is seen in the remainder of the community. Kent introduced the notion that all acute disease is predicated on psora (pre-existing chronic disease); though it is difficult to determine how this belief affected his actual clinical practice in the treatment of acute disease. Kent's assertion would suggest that acute diseases do not occur for those in perfect health - certainly a radical concept. and one that is at clear variance with Hahnemann's views and observations on the matter. The notion that we can address acute disease adequately by always focusing

exclusively on the chronic is one that has found its way into contemporary homoeopathy as well as into many contemporary "new age" medical philosophies. In the prophylaxis of acute epidemic disease. when are we best to focus on the epidemic and when is it more appropriate to focus on the chronic?

Some suggest that we should always give the chronic remedy in acute disease. Is there always a chronic remedy indicated or identifiable for the person who appears to

be in previously good health? When a chronic disease is present. does it always dictate the direction of acute illness?

It is my impression that simplistic or theoretically derived answers will not suffice here. Many apparently acute diseases clearly represent the acute flare-up of pre-existing

chronic disease. sometimes under the influence of an external morbific influence. such as the 'flu' case described directly above. Others appear to represent the direct

action of an acute morbific agent on an otherwise healthy dynamis. or the acute diversion of the dynamis from a previously existing chronic disharmony. It appears to me

that. in order to ensure and maintain health. we need to attend equally to both the chronic and the acute. assessing the needs of our patient on a case-by-case basis.

When and who to treat prophylactically?

At first glance it might seem appropriate to treat everyone -or anyone who desires it- prophylactically for such epidemic acute illnesses as measles. whooping cough. scarlatina. mumps. influenza. etc. when these visit the neighborhood. However. on greater reflection. there may be some concerns with doing this. Is there value to our system in spontaneously going through an acute disease?

Does the immune system benefit from the experience of sustaining us thru measles?

Will prophylaxis of chickenpox as a child open us to the risk of contracting this disease as an adult. when it is of much greater concern? Are some of these acute expressions

of disease opportunities for the system to throw off a chronic miasmatic burden that might otherwise contribute to chronic degenerative disease? Does homoeoprophylaxis

interfere with the dynamis' response to an acute morbific influence. or does it assist us in making a more balanced response. permitting us any benefits of the experience but tempering the process so that this is done without disease?

We have only to look at our allopathic colleagues and the evolution of their acceptance of universal immunization to see how cavalier one can become with these questions.

From cautious application in such ravaging diseases as smallpox. we are now being encouraged to immunize against the common inconveniencing diseases of childhood

in order to minimize lost work days for parents.

Until answers to some of these questions are in. my position is to provide prophylactic treatment on a case-by-case and epidemic-by-epidemic basis. always considering

the larger issues raised above.

Table 1 Nosodes for the homoeoprophylaxis of epidemic and sporadic acute diseases

Influenza A Influenzinum; Anas barbariae hepatis et cardus extractum (= Oscillococcinum)

Whooping cough (pertussis) Pertussin

Measles Morbillinum

Chickenpox Varicellinum

Mumps Parotidinum

Scarlatina Scarletininum. Streptococcinum

Strep pharyngitis Streptococcinum

Lyme disease Lyme nosode/Ericaceae

Diphtheria Diptherinum

Propionibacterium acne nosode und Diptherinum

Rabies/Hydrophobia Lyssin (Hydrophobinum)

Table 2 "Central" remedies to consider for the homoeoprophylaxis of sporadic and epidemic acute diseases

Influenza A Eupatorium perfoliatum. Gelsemium

Whooping cough (pertussis) Drosera

Measles Pulsatilla

Mumps Phytolacca

Chickenpox Pulsatilla

Scarlatina Belladonna

Strep pharyngitis Mercurius vivus

Rotoviral diarrhea Bismuth*

Travelers' diarrhea (e. coli) Bismuth*

Epidemic conjunctivitis / Pink eye Mercurius vivus (though varies greatly)

Croup Aconite

Epiglottitis Hepar sulphuris

Lyme disease Ledum

Tetanus Ledum

Rabies/Hydrophobia Belladonna

*This very likely explains the effectiveness of Pepto-Bismol®. a commonly-used and conventionally-recommended preventive and early-treatment option for these conditions

Xanthium spinosum (= Cockle/said to be specific for hydrophobia, recommended for chronic cystitis in women/Asterales./Heliantheae).

Disease Dr. Solaiappan Jabalpur India	Preventive Medicine Nosode of the Illness	Source
Anthrax	Anthracinum	Denman
Chickenpox	Ant-c. Puls. Rhus-t. Chickenpox Nosode	Mackenzie
Cholera	Ars. Cupr-ac. Sulph. Cholera nosode	Farrington
	Camph. Cupr-met. Verat.	Hahnemann
	Camph. Cupr-ac.	Clarke Ruddock
Cold recurrent	Bacillinum	Denman
Dengue Fever	Eup-per.
Diphteria	Apis. Diph. Lac-c.	Mackenzie/Hahnemann/Farrington
The India government tested the use of Belladonna to prevent Japanese Encephalitis and noted mortality was greatly reduced
Food poisoning	Ars.
Haemophilus influenza type B	Haemophilus Nosode
Hepatitis	Hepatitis Nosode. Chel.
Hydrophobia	Bell. Canth. Hyos. Stram. Lyssin. Ars.	Clarke. Ruddock. Boericke. Allen. Tyler
Influenzinum	Influenzinum Nosode (hispanicum)
H1N1 = Spanish flue	Hydr-ac. (?cyanatum Gruppe?)	Ulrich Welte
Malaria	Chin. Malaria officinalis. Morbillinum	Boericke. Allen. Hering
Meningitis	Bell. Meningococcinum
Mumps	Trif-r. Parotidinum Arn. Led. Thuj. Arn. Tetano-toxine	Allen Schmidt
Pneumonia	Pneumococcinum is reputed to prevent pneumonia.
Poliomyelitis	Cocc-i. Cur. Gels. Lath-s. Carb-ac. Lath-s. Plb-met. Physos.	Hahnemann Clarke Boericke Schmidt Ruddock
Rubella	Rubellellinum
Scarlatina	Bell.	Hahnemann
Sepsis puerperal	Arn.	Foubister
Tetanus	Led. Thuj. Arn. l0M Tetano-toxine-lM Mag-p. Hyper.	Schmidt Grimmer Boericke
Tuberculose	Tub-b.	Boericke
Typhoid	Bapt. Typhoidinum	Burnett Kent
Typhus	Bell. Rhus-t. Bry.	Hahnemann [Dr. W.H. Dickinson]
Yellow Fever	Crot-h.
Whooping cough	All-s. Puls. Coqueluchin = Pertussinum Dros. Vaccin.. Carb-v. Cupr-met. Dros. Coc-c.	Grimmer Lehman Clarke Boericke Grimmer Farrington

When a remedy specific to the individual occurrence of an epidemic -the genus epidemicus- is identified. this remedy will act more surely in homoeoprophylaxis and early treatment of cases. and is to

be preferred to the approaches described above. This genus epidemicus may often become clear following the treatment of 5-6 cases in a particular epidemic; though it may require additional cases to

obtain a clear picture. particularly when the situation is complicated by the presence of more than one viral illness moving through the community.

This remedy will not only be useful in prophylaxis. but will often be the simillimum to developed cases of the acute disease.

[Jacqueline Smith]

Finding the Genus Epidemicus of Necrotising Fasciitis.

[Laning]

No remedy gives such universally good results; it lessens the sugar and quantity of the urine; he recommended the 3X trituration. It is when the disease is due to assimilative derangements

that Uranium nitricum is the remedy. and symptoms such as defective digestion. languor. debility and much sugar in the urine. enormous appetite and thirst. yet the patient continues to emaciate.

[Hahnemannian Monthly Volume-II Jan - Dec I917]

Prophylaxis

When we find in a family a case of infectious typhoid fever. the same remedy. which has been given the patient in accordance with his symptoms. will also be sure to protect those in the house

from infection. as it destroys the natural disposition thereto.

Pockenvorbeugung: Ant-t. Hydr. Kali-cy. Maland. Sarr. Thuj. Vac. Vario.

[Farokh Master]

My views on Genus Epidemicus in Homoeopathy

There is an old saying. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

Hahnemann applied a similar maxim to Homeopathy. In the footnote to aphorism 73 H. says. “Scarlet fever found its preventative and curative means in Belladonna”.

One of the common surmounted topics in contemporary homoeopathy is the understanding of the preventive treatment of acute epidemic disease.

Yet a review of homoeopathy's 214 year history reveals that this is a coliseum in which we have seen some of the greatest examples of the effectiveness of our science.

At the threshold let me draw a clear cut difference between homoeopathic vaccination and homoeopathic prophylaxis while homoeopathic vaccination involves the use of routine combinations

and series of nosodes in an effort to confer long-term resistance to a variety of diseases.

In contrast. homoeopathic prophylaxis involves the use of individual remedies. selected according to the laws of similars and doctrine of individuality in a strictly non-specific manner. to wipe

out the morbidity of epidemic and sporadic contagious acute diseases in the short term.

(In the language of Hahnemann as mentioned in Organon the "Organon of the Medical Art" by Samuel Hahnemann edited by Wenda O'Reilly)

Homoeopathic vaccination one can say is a classical example of contemporary innovation. borrowing on the notoriety of allopathic vaccination; whereas homoeopathic prophylaxis

is well rooted in classical homeopathic practice.

We don't have to search far in the historical record to find examples of the effective use of homoeopathic prophylaxis.

In 1799 3 years after the "nativity" of homoeopathy in Hahnemann's landmark article Essay on a New Principle which achieved fame throughout Europe from his exceptionally effective treatment

of a Scarlatina epidemic that was sweeping Germany. He wrote: “I resolved in this case of scarlet fever just in the act of breaking out. not to act as usual in reference to individual symptoms. but

if possible (in accordance with my new synthetical principle) to obtain a remedy whose peculiar mode of action was calculated to produce in the healthy body most of the morbid symptoms

which I observed combined in this disease.

My memory and my written collection of the peculiar effects of some medicines. furnished me with no remedy so capable of producing a counterpart of the symptoms here present. as Bell.”

Hahnemann after an arduous experience of treating the very first epidemic of his life published a small pamphlet “Cure and Prevention of Scarlet Fever” in 1801. At the time he promoted

Belladonna as a specific prophylactic remedy for Scarlatina and accompanying each pamphlet he sold, a vial of Belladonna prepared according to his technique at that time.

With increased experience observing and treating epidemic illnesses. Hahnemann recognized the unique nature of each occurrence of an epidemic.

Aconite proved to be the specific for a subsequent Scarlatina epidemic sweeping Germany between 1800 and 1808.

In 1808 Hahnemann yet wrote another scientific paper “Observations on the Scarlet Fever”. here he carefully described how the two epidemic of same disease Scarlet fever needs two

different remedies (Bell./Acon.) he once again stressed on the principle of art of observation and individualization.

An approach to treat epidemics using homoeopathic prophylaxis:

The main aim of every homoeopathic physician is to select one remedy what we call in classical homoeopathy as genus epidemicus.

In homeo prophylaxis we see two approaches the most common which I see being practiced all over the world is the use of diseased nosode e.g. the use of Coqueluchinum in whooping

cough prophylaxis or Parotidinum in a mumps epidemic. Closely related to this would be the use of the sarcode Anas barbare hepatis et cardus extractum (liver and heart of the Barbary duck)

for flu.

Derived from tissues of the native host of influenza. this remedy is prepared from tissue containing and reacting to the influenza virus.

The nosode represents the undifferentiated or generic appearance of an acute miasm. not accounting for individual variability of persons or individual epidemic occurrences. Its routine use in active disease would be considered isopathy rather than homoeopathy; and historical experience reveals the general inadequacy of this approach.

I personally am not in favour of this method however. this may be a successful strategy in a pinch. particularly early in the epidemic of an acute miasmatic illness. and before a genus epidemicus -the specific remedy for the individual epidemic- has been identified. Following Hering's introduction of nosodes into our Materia Medica. Boenninghausen experimented early on. with considerable success. at using Variolinum (smallpox nosode) for the prophylactic treatment of smallpox.

The second approach is to select a remedy deemed central to the undifferentiated or generic nature of the epidemic illness. This is done by taking an anamnesis of the disease -as- named. without specific attention to the individuality of the prevailing epidemic or the individuality of a specific case. Examples might include Drosera for whooping cough or Bromium for Mumps.

Here again the individual nature of the particular epidemic is not taken into account. and this approach works best with those epidemic illnesses that can be termed acute miasms-ones in which there is less variability in individual expression. Hahnemann in this manner suggested Camphora as the homoeoprophylactic simillimum for the approaching epidemic of Asiatic cholera.

Boenninghausen had some excellent success in using Thuja occidentalis in this manner in the prophylactic treatment of smallpox.

This of course can only be done for those diseases that Hahnemann would class as "acute miasms" - diseases that "recur in the same manner and are therefore known by a traditional name".

As an example. we could look at Swine flu epidemic that hit India very badly recently.

We know that this acute miasmatic disease -although certainly individually variable to some extent in its individual presentation- commonly presents with:

A sudden fever (a high body temperature of 38° C/100.4° F or above).

A sudden cough.

Other symptoms may include:

Aching muscles

Chills

Diarrhoea or stomach upset

Headache

Loss of appetite.

Nose obstruction

Respiratory paralysis

Runny nose

Severe body ache with sore pains all over the body

Sneezing

Sore throat

Throat pain

Tiredness

From the Synthesis10 Repertory. we could select the following rubrics to represent these common or generic symptoms of Swineflu epidemic.

HEAD - PAIN < during fever

HEAD - PAIN during influenza

NOSE - CATARRH

NOSE - CORYZA from influenza

NOSE - OBSTRUCTION

THROAT - INFLAMMATION - Nasopharynx acute

THROAT - INFLAMMATION of Pharynx

THROAT - PAIN < during fever

THROAT - PAIN sore (+ coryza)

RECTUM - DIARRHEA during influenza;

COUGH < during FEVER

CHEST - INFLAMMATION - of bronchial tubes/of lungs

CHEST - PARALYSed lung

FEVER + coryza

FEVER with chill

GENERALS - INFLUENZA (+ pain in bones/bruised pain)

GENERALS - PAIN sore

GENERALS - WEAKNESS excessiv/< during fever

The striking similitude of Baptisia to the generic undifferentiated picture of Swine flu stands out. Closely following is Camph. Eupat-per. Gels. and the small remedy Lobelia purpurascens.

These remedies all address the essential characteristics of swine flu -the genus of the disease- but they do so in their own varied manners. each differing somewhat from the generic.

undifferentiated similarity of Baptisia to the scarlatina disease-state.

In the year 1800. John Minz. Canton. Ohio USA. witnessed an epidemic of scarlatina not responding to commonly indicated remedies. An excoriating nasal discharge. swelling of the glands.

boring of the nose to this individual epidemic led him to select Arum triphyllum for this peculiar case. which he applied with great success. This individualization to a particular occurrence

of an epidemic is key to select genus epidemicus.

The two approaches mentioned above -the use of the acute- disease nosode. and the identification of a genus remedy for the acute miasm have successfully employed by homoeopaths all

over the world. In their earliest stages. these diseases are often ill defined. or generic in appearance; e.g. in flu. there is a mild poorly defined malaise with fever mild body ache; in mumps.

fever with mild pain near the jaw on eating and mild rash; etc. As the individual case of disease evolves. differentiating features then appear which further characterize the case and point

to an individually specific simillimum; but early on. this less-differentiated disharmony may respond to a remedy bearing more generic similarity.

When a remedy specific to the individual occurrence of an epidemic -the genus epidemicus- is identified. this remedy will act more surely in homoeoprophylaxis.

This genus epidemicus may often become clear following the treatment of 10 - 15 cases in a particular epidemic; though it may require additional cases to obtain a clear picture. particularly

when the situation is complicated by the presence of more than one viral illness moving through the community.

This remedy will not only be useful in prophylaxis. but will often be the simillimum to developed cases of the acute disease.

Finding the Genus Epidemicus Hahnemann describes the process of determining the genus epidemicus concisely. in his Organon:

Aph. 101:

Usually the physician does not immediately perceive the complete picture of the epidemic in the first case that he treats. since the collective disease reveals it self in the totality of signs

and symptoms only after several cases have been closely observed. Nevertheless. an observant physician can often come so close after seeing only one or two patients that he becomes

aware of the characteristic picture of the epidemic and can already find its appropriate homoeopathic remedy.

Aph. 102

From writing down the symptoms of several cases of this sort. the outline of the disease picture becomes more and more complete -not more extensive and wordy. but more characteristic.

containing more accurately the peculiarity of the particular collective disease. The ordinary symptoms -e.g.. loss of appetite. sleeplessness. etc.- become more precisely qualified. and those

that are more exceptional. special. and. in the circumstances. unusual. and belong to only a few diseases. reveal themselves and constitute the characteristic picture of this epidemic.

All those who catch an epidemic at a particular time have a disease flowing from the same source and therefore the same disease. But the entire scope of such an epidemic disease. the

totality of its symptoms (which we need to know in order to grasp the whole disease picture and choose an appropriate remedy for it) cannot be perceived in any one patient. but can

be fully distilled and gathered only from the sufferings of several patients with different physical constitutions.

In subsequent cases either the appropriateness of the homoeopathic remedy chosen in the first cases will be corroborated or else a more appropriate one. the most appropriate one. will be

revealed to the physician.

Potency and dose

Potency and dosage for prophylactic treatment are guided by the same issues that guide the treatment of other acute illnesses;

One has consider the susceptibility. the constitution etc.

In general. the lower potencies suffice. I'll commonly use 30C or 200C. occasionally 1M.

Few doses in pills form diluted with distilled water will confer good protection.

This frequency of repetition has as much to do with the pace of the disease and the (similar) pace of the remedy as it does with the duration of the epidemic.

Plague generally has a rapid and furious pace. calling for a simillimum (e.g.. Pyrogen) with a matching pace and more limited duration of action. Influenza more often has a more indolent

pace. calling for a simillimum of matching slow pace (e.g.. Bry. Gels.) and longer duration of action.

[Dr. Y.R. Agrawal]

Prophylactics in Homoeopathy

Catheter Fever: Camphoric Acid is recommended as a prophylactic for catheter fever. (Boericke)

Cerebro-spinal Fever: Meningo-Coccin.

Chicken-Pox: Ant-t. Rhus t.: prophylactic against chickenpox. (Mackenzie)

Cholera: H. according to the circumstances Camphor. Verat. Cupr-met. as preventives or prophylactics of cholera. The selection of the preventive remedy must, to some extent be governed

by the nature of the epidemic and. therefore, the best preventive can not always be determined until the epidemic has appeared and its peculiar (specific) nature is ascertained.

The sprinkling of suspected strangers on their arrival, and of suspected goods and letters with camphor spirit, would most certainly destroy the cholera miasm in them.

In his treatise of September, 1831, H., "Everyone can use Camphor with his own people when they fall sick because he himself will be protected by the vapours of camphor

and so long he continues to use he will remain unharmed."

[Kent]

Cupr-met.: cases of a convulsive character,

Camph.: cases characterised by extreme coldness, and more or less dryness,

Verat.: copious sweat, vomiting, and purging are the features. That is little to remember, but with that you can enter an epidemic of cholera with confidence.

"The dose must be repeated almost immediately if the treatment should have any lasting result. In such cases the camphor spirit given every five minutes, must be continued only so long

as there results from it manifest improvement (which will be known within a quarter of an hour). If there is no very soon a striking improvement, we must not hesitate to at once proceed to

the second stage e.g., 2 or 3 pillets of the medicine of refined Cuprum. If in spite of the use of preventive Cuprum, the patient should be seized with cholera, he must at once when taken

sick -I mean in the first moments or minutes where always, though it may be for a short time, the first stage is present- be nevertheless treated with camphor." (Hahnemann)

Cuprum aceticum 3x to be taken in water (five drops), night and morning.

Cuprum met: It was noticed that during the epidemic of 1849, in Paris, workers in brass and copper establishments escaped the disease. It posesses considerable quality as a prophylactic in

the disease. A dose of Cupr-met. should be taken every third day, on rising in the morning.

The preparations of copper (one or two globules of Cuprum 0,00x) together with good and moderate diet, and proper attention to cleanliness, is the most effective preventive and protective

remedy. Those in health should take once every week, a small globule of it in the morning, fasting and not to drink immediately any liquid afterwards, but this should not be done until the cholera

is in the locality itself or in the neighbourhood.

Chinin-s.: according to an old German practitioner (Dr. Aegidi) is to be used for the precursory stage of cholera. He gave Chinin-s. 0.01 to 0.06. one dose every evening for eight days

and none of the persons thus treated were attacked by cholera.

In some epidemics, Sulphur has been the best prophylactic. It will be suitable in diarrhoea if it comes on in the night, after midnight, the stool being yellow, pappy and attended by great

urgency, though the urging is often ineffectual; and if at the same time, there are cramps in the soles of the feet.

It is especially indicated in hot, damp, stiffling weather, the exact meteorological condition of sun stroke and it has at least in my practice, proved itself adequate to the occasion.

[C.G. Raue] I recommend Glon. 10M as a preventive against sun stroke. (Pierre Schmidt)

Surgery*

Phosphorus 200 is prophylactic against fear before an operation.

Arn.: prevents the shock of operation.

Arn.: considered as a pyaemic prophylactic. Dr. Farrington says that some surgeons use Arnica after operations, applying it locally and give it internally.

Rhus-t.: is the best prophylactic for cases of surgery. It should be given for 48 hours in 30th dilution every three hours. It will prevent sepsis.

Calen.: will largely prevent scars, also gangrene and tetanus when used as a dressing on wound. (Anshutz)

In cases of abdominal surgery, where the conditions are such that sepsis is feared for; give Rhus-t. C 6 every two hours. This remedy possesses the power of prevention of sepsis. (A.N. Mukherji)

Tetanus*

Ledum if given before tetanus comes on will save from tetanus and after the jerking comes on Ledum will not do but Hypericum must be given. (J.T. Kent)

For trismus from injury to nerves*

Hyper.: considered prophylactic in cases of wounds of palms or soles, useful in spinal injury - tetanus.

Ledum Palustre is a preventive medicine if an accident happens to the end of the fingers, if a patient steps on a nail or sticks a splinter under a finger nail or into the foot.

alendula like Sal-ac. useful in preventing excessive suppuration, and in preventing putridity, both keeping from wounds and sores septic germs.

The odour of the flowers is disliked by mosquitoes; and the smoke of the burning plant will drive mice and lizards from houses. (Bering's Guiding Symptoms Vol III P-262)

Vorwort/Suchen. Zeichen/Abkürzungen. Impressum.