Homeopathy, Aids and its Miasmatic Identity
ARV (= Antiretroviral drug).
[Richard Pitt]
Homeopath Richard Pitt presents a comprehensive look at the AIDS
epidemic, including history, controversies, theories and numerous homeopathic
approaches.
I arranged a Richard Pitt proving of cassava (= Maniok/=
Manihot esculenta) in
Malawi in April 2012 with students and others working in the homeopathy clinic
we were helping in. I entitled the proving “Enough to Survive, not to thrive.”
The following symptoms were seen:
Great hunger, with weakness. Increased salivation, with sour, bitter
taste. Much spitting. Sores inside and outside the mouth. Nausea and vomiting,
churning in stomach, thirst, hunger, feels about to vomit with increased
saliva. Diarrhea. Pain in the feet, ext. up and down,
burning in the feet, staggering, not being in control, heavy of legs, sensation
of paralysis. Weakness felt in feet ext. leg.
Dreams: danger, knives, threats, death, killing, fighting, fear, worry.
Weakness, aching of body.
The symptoms of the proving seems to fit the psoric
miasm - the feeling of lack, of hunger, of constant
effort merely to survive. The great hunger felt may also reveal its need in the
opposite, of no hunger at all and especially the inability to eat cassava.
Its affinity for the whole gastro intestinal tract and also the nervous
system may make it applicable in cases of AIDS (when cassava can no longer be
eaten +/o. when sores are found in the mouth, along with weakness of the whole
system. (It is often seen in cases of SLIM that people can no longer eat their
staple food, which is often cassava. It is no longer digestible but there is no
other option for most people).
It is interesting to note the relationship between one of the main crops
used in Africa (originally imported from South America, along with maize and
sweet potatoes) and the predominant miasm and
experience of many millions of people.
Conclusions:
AIDS in Africa is often connected with the experience of hunger.
Although AIDS has affected wealthier, middle class Africans, for the most part,
those more affected will
be suffering from a lack of nutritional balance and a dependence on a
few staple foods and as mentioned, most people living in Africa will be in the
same ‘morphogenetic’ field.
The psoric miasm is
therefore the most dominant miasm in many AIDS cases.
As described above, tuberculosis is one of the most common conditions now
attributed to HIV/AIDS, and the tubercular miasm is
seen as a common influence in much of Africa. The consequence of colonialism
and the breaking down of tribal, village life, with
the rapid explosion of urban centers has
profoundly changed African society. Rapid urbanization has occurred more
quickly in many African countries than anywhere else
on the planet. More recently, the availability of cell phones and
consequent ability to communicate all over the country, if not the world has
also thrust traditional cultures
into the 21st century. This shift fits into the tubercular miasm as people now see the chance to escape, to find a new
life, and yet still often remain stuck in their situation,
due to financial and practical challenges. In the West, we often simply
saw another aspect of the tubercular miasm express
itself, (the gay community), but also mixed with
the result of suppressed sycotic and
syphilitic influences.
So we see the intrinsic psoric state being
challenged by the tubercular impulse and when that fails, to fall back into psoric apathy and passivity and the malarial frustration
and exhaustion, or it can become more violent and destructive, as seen
in the syphilitic miasm. This latter impulse is seen
more in societies in which the fabric of social
cohesion becomes totally lost (parts of the Democratic Republic of
Congo). The proposed radiation miasm, (or at least
the rationalization for the lanthanide remedies) can
be seen as a result of the use of ARV’s and
their side effects. These drugs, beginning with AZT (a failed and toxic cancer
drug) and then to protease inhibitors and now the new breed of anti-retrovirals, all belong to the consciousness of “modern
science” and the political forces that have supported this industry and now
imposed on to Africa.
It would also include the possibility of AIDS being a man-made disease,
plutonic forces “accidentally” released onto the world, like nuclear weapons
and power, where radiation leaks into the world.
AIDS is one of most challenging and complex syndromes experienced by
humans. The ongoing controversy that still surrounds it and the political
consequences of the AIDS industry makes it hard to see the miasmatic
view of the disease from a homeopathic point of view. But by looking at the
combined influence of existing miasms and also by
studying the unique characteristics of AIDS cases and the broader social,
cultural and political influences, one can ideally piece together themes that
make sense.
Resources:
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/it-only-took-50-years-cdc-admits-polio-vaccine-tainted-with-cancer-causing-virus/#sthash.jgL3kflE.dpuf.
Marco Ruggerio, an Italian biologist and AIDS
specialist stated that:
In our paper (Italian Journal of Anatomy and Histology, vol. 114,97 -
108, 2009) we report that occupational exposure to HIV is uncommon, and the
overall risk of seroconversion after contact with HIV
positive blood is extremely low (seroconversion rate,
0 - 0.42%). It is calculated that, on average 99.7% of health care workers, who
are exposed to HIV, will not be infected (Ippolito et
al., 1993; Marcus, 1988). In general, most health care professionals found to
be HIV-positive have a history of behavioural (male homosexual contact or
intravenous drug use) or transfusion exposure (Chamberland
et al., 1995). - Marco Ruggiero
HIV-associated tuberculosis (Tb.) remains a substantial challenge to
international public health, accounting for an estimated 1.1 million new Tb.
cases and 0.35 million deaths worldwide in 2010.
A staggering 82% of these cases and 71% of deaths were in sub-Saharan
Africa. This burden of disease represents a particular challenge to
antiretroviral treatment (ART) programmes in the region as it is concentrated
in patients accessing these services. Approximately 5 - 40% of patients
enrolling in ART services have a current Tb. diagnosis
at the time of starting ART. In addition, there is a high incidence of
disease during the initial months of ART, much of which represents prevalent
disease present at baseline that was not detected during screening. Long term
rates are lowered substantially during ART, but nevertheless remain several
fold higher than rates in HIV-uninfected people living in the same communities.
World Health Organisation. WHO/HTM/TB./2011.16.
Let us explore the condition known as HIV/AIDS from the perspective of
other miasms and then go more into the possible
unique characteristics of an AIDS miasm.
Syphilis and AIDS
The connection to the Syphilitic miasm is one
of the most obvious, with a history of syphilis seen in some cases and from a
homeopathic view, its suppression, along with other STI’s
(= Sexually transmitted infections) leading to the suppression of the
syphilitic impulse, only to come out in a more virulent form. There is no doubt
that a history of STI’s was a precursor for many who
got AIDS, whether in the West and also in Africa but more so in the West, and
the nature of the destructiveness of the disease shows clear syphilitic
qualities. Also, similar to syphilis, after an initial intense and violent
expression, (over a 20 - 25 year period), the disease seems to be declining.
New infections in the West are not that common and for most relatively healthy
people, AIDS is not much of a risk. A healthy immune system is enough to
protect against the disease, even if one does become infected. It has never
been shown that merely being positive will lead to active AIDS, a common myth
promulgated in the medical community. In Africa today, we also see a dropping
off of AIDS cases. Some statistics show that AIDS cases peaked around 200-2001
in most Sub Saharan countries, except parts of Southern Africa.
One can study these statistics at www.avert.org.
The same thing happened with syphilis in the 16th century.
After about 50 years, it developed into more of a chronic condition and did not
kill people in the manner that it
did in the first years of infection where it swept through Europe, with
people dying in the street and being herded into camps and often killed. This
is no different to when colonizers took European bugs to the new world and
millions died of diseases such as smallpox and measles, which had become less
life threatening in the West due to recurrent exposure. As has been seen in
many infectious diseases, including polio and smallpox, their incidences were
declining before vaccination became widespread.
However, although both diseases are communicated through sex, there are
significant differences in the symptom pictures presented, and Syphilis is a
spirochete bacteria whereas HIV is a retrovirus, also known a human endogenous
retrovirus (HERV) and which is not a virus at all but genetic material that is
often released in response to certain infections. Also HIV is not that easy to
catch, contrary to some of the myths surrounding it. There are many
‘discordant’ couples, one being positive, the other negative and
it has been shown that some people who are frequently exposed do not get
the disease. (2) It seems to require other factors, which conventional science
can’t identify all the time, but which in homeopathy, with our theory of
susceptibility we can make some conclusions. But what is commonly recognized is
that HIV/AIDS predominantly affects people with existing immune-deficiency
issues, whether in the West or Africa. STI’s,
including Syphilis are one of the common factors, but only one of many and in fact
Tuberculosis is much more commonly seen connected to HIV/AIDS, both in the West
and Africa.
Tuberculosis and AIDS
The tubercular miasm figures very strongly in
a miasmatic evaluation of AIDS. In the gay population
in Europe and U.S., the social situation and behavior
amongst the gay community in the 1960s and 1970’s was being freed from the
inhibition and denial of one’s sexuality, its liberation leading to
extraordinary sexual behavior amongst other things
for some people, and including a social and political identity within
mainstream society. That feeling of liberation and expression is found strongly
in the tubercular miasm, more so than in the
syphilitic miasm. The sexual promiscuity seen was not
a primarily destructive act, but more of a freedom to do what they want and in
so doing challenging the conventional societal mores that imposed restrictions
on sexual behavior. Even though the dynamics within
the gay community led to a greater separation of male and female energy - male
homosexuals mainly being together and females the same, which no doubt impacted
on the “male” sexual extremes, the behavior itself
was more tubercular in nature than syphilitic. However, the fact that many gay
people who got AIDS did have a long history of STD’s,
including Syphilis confirms the syphilitic imprint as well.
Tuberculosis has also been described by some homeopaths as being a
combination of the psoric and syphilitic miasm (termed pseudo-psora),
especially if one uses the three major miasms as a
background to understand all further miasms, instead
of seeing the Tubercular, Cancer and AIDS miasms as
separate in their own right. Conventional miasmatic
theory has been based on the idea that it all began with psora,
without which one cannot have Sycosis and Syphilis,
which then leads to TB. and Cancer etc. Therefore all further miasms, apart from the main three are combinations of the
main three. Many homeopaths don’t particularly adhere to this theory, which is
one reason miasmatic theory is somewhat contentious
in homeopathy. The loose and hugely broad definition of psora
has led to all sorts of conclusions about what it means and to assume that all
the other diseases kind of stack up one another after that is debatable.
Another aspect of the influence of the tubercular miasm
is that one of the strongest conditions of AIDS is pneumocystitis
carinii pneumonia (PCP), a fungal infection which
invades the lungs and also
spreads throughout the body, looking like TB. Other key symptoms of AIDS
has been a serious loss of weight, chronic night sweats and lymphatic swelling,
all characteristic of Tb.
Some Haitians in New York who got AIDS in the 1980’s were also afflicted
with TB. In Africa, the connection between TB. and AIDS is very strong. It can
even be questioned whether the HIV retrovirus leads to more Tb. or Tb. leads to
the activation of the retrovirus in the system. Conventional theory accepts the
former proposal, leading to a large increase in statistical AIDS cases, but
questions remain as to the true “cause”.
In Africa, although there were some initial cases of Kaposi’s sarcoma
(one of the first striking conditions of AIDS in the West but before a fairly
benign form of cancer found in Africa) and pneumocystis,
one of the most common and visible conditions initially seen has been ‘slim’, a
wasting away of the body, with an inability to eat hardly anything, along with
viral diseases such as shingles and lymphatic swelling. However, this has now
significantly diminished in the last number of years. However, one of the
strongest connections has apparently been the increase in serious malaria and
especially tuberculosis, which is being attributed to AIDS. In a homeopathic
project in Swaziland (The Swaziland Homeopathy Project), T.b.
and its complications is now one of the most common conditions associated with
AIDS. Slim is not seen much now and neither is malaria. Shingles is very
common, as are chronic fungal infections, which are also a side-effect of TB.
treatment, which begs the question whether many active TB. sufferers on
medication and who then test positive for HIV simply have TB., based on the
fact that HIV tests cannot be HIV specific and therefore will test positive
when people already have TB. This is discussed below when looking at the larger
questions and controversies around AIDS diagnosis.
There is a growing problem with Multiple Drug Resistant Tb. and many
don’t survive the drug regime. In another project in Tanzania, 30 - 40% have
Tb. with another 30 - 40% with various forms
of pneumonia, lymph involvement in 40 - 50% of cases and shingles in
about 30% of cases. Kaposi’s sarcoma is not seen very much. Fungal infections
are about 30% of cases. Over 80% of cases seen are on ARV’s
with neuropathy side effects seen in a majority of cases, again making one
consider again if much of what is seen is simply TB., and the effects of T.B
and ARV medications. Therefore, the connection between Tuberculosis and AIDS is
particularly strong.
The significance of Kaposi’s sarcoma in the West, seen much more than in
Africa has been attributed by some AIDS writers to be due to the abuse of
certain social drugs (poppers = Amyl nitrate), which are commonly taken
among some in the gay community.
The Miasm of Confusion and Controversy
In studying the broader miasmatic themes of
any disease, it is useful to look at the larger social impact of a disease, the
environment in which the disease occurs and its impact on wider society.
As already mentioned AIDS seemed to suddenly erupt onto the world,
leading to much confusion about what was happening - a new, mysterious but
deadly epidemic that threatened to spread across the globe. But then, after 20
years or so in the West, cases began to diminish and although drug therapy
improved, the disease didn’t spread as originally thought. Also it hasn’t
behaved like any other disease before, the actual virus remaining highly
elusive and science finding it hard to isolate it or to make a vaccine. Also
AIDS is not a disease but a syndrome, a collection of up to 29 different
conditions, which also exist without being HIV positive. With a variety of
conditions being attributed to the disease and not one clearly defined
condition that could specifically be linked to the contagious factor, as in
most diseases, it has led to further controversy over what we are looking at.
This has led some scientists to question whether HIV really exists and
if it does, whether it is more of a co-factor than a primary cause of many of
the conditions attributed to it. The fact remains that AIDS hasn’t behaved like
a normal epidemic infectious disease and seems mainly to affect those already
immune-compromised e.g., gays with a history of social drug use and also many
incidences of STI’s and extensive anti-biotic use, hemophiliacs, serious drug users and people with a
susceptibility to Tb., like the Haitian community in New York. In Africa, it
has affected people more broadly, but again, not in ways consistently seen in
epidemics. Some countries in West Africa, like Nigeria and Ghana have fairly
low incidences while Kenya, Uganda and Malawi have much higher incidences. Some
feel this is attributed to different HIV strains but it may also be that the
health infrastructures are more developed in East Africa, leading to more
testing and treatment. The normal factors that have been identified as major
factors in the spread of the disease, e.g., multiple sexual partners, polygamy,
‘hot spots’ where sexual workers and trucking stops are found, a history of STI’s, malnutrition etc are equally apparent in West Africa
as in East or Southern Africa, making one question their significance.
Also, and this would tie in to the more esoteric theories around AIDS,
West African countries have generally retained more of their traditional
cultural beliefs -or are more at ease in expressing them- than in East Africa
that has more widely denied this tradition, often under the influence of
Christian and Islamic religions. Maybe the denial of their traditional cultural
myths and rituals has made them further susceptible to the imposition of the
‘Electronic age’ and the cultural miasms of Western
society. This is further explored when looking at the possible unique features
of the AIDS miasm.
Another key part of the controversy (Africa), is whether there are as
many AIDS cases as being stated. There is evidence that the HIV tests used in
Africa are not specific to HIV and that many immune-compromised people test
positive anyway. This has been verified scientifically with those who have had
leprosy and it is thought that a wide range of existing conditions, including
merely being pregnant, can lead to false positive tests. If that is the case,
then millions of people are being falsely tested and suffer the profound stigma
often attached to the disease. In Africa, this alone can be a death sentence as
a HIV positive person would be a threat to the community, leading to social
isolation and stigmatization. Also the power of the word is strong in Africa
and being told by an ‘expert’ that you have a life threatening disease can
become just that - just from believing it.
The stigma of AIDS has been addressed by the AIDS movement and
aggressive education in this way has made positive inroads in many communities
and countries and yet remains a challenge. It is here that AIDS looks similar
to other infectious epidemics of the past, incl. Syphilis and Leprosy when a
positive diagnosis or when symptoms of a disease would lead to social isolation
or worse.
Just recently in the news, in April 2014, a BBC report in Uganda showed
that many people who are HIV positive are buying HIV negative test reports so
that they can get work and not be so socially shunned. Companies require people
to have a HIV test and so HIV positive people are being discriminated, in spite
of years of education and millions of dollars of educational investment. Uganda
has also been held up to be one of the success stories in Africa. The tragedy
of this is clear. If the tests aren’t accurate, people are being profoundly
stigmatized as a result of false tests. Also, as has been known for years, a
HIV positive test in and of itself does not mean a person will get sick. A
healthy immune system is enough to deal with this, making the whole policy of
widespread HIV testing throughout Africa even more questionable.
As the epidemic in Africa has evolved and affected different groups of
people, the symptoms have somewhat changed. Slim is now much less seen, ARV’s are much more widely available, changing the face of
the disease and Kaposi’s sarcoma is not seen very much. However, as mentioned,
Tb. and other chronic chest conditions are now the most commonly seen condition
attributed to AIDS in many parts of Africa.
Malaria is still seen very frequently, some of which may be attributable
to HIV infection and other general immune problems. Malnutrition is a major
issue and chronic diarrhea is commonly seen in HIV
patients, along with shingles and chronic lymph swellings. But again, the
question is whether HIV is the primary cause of many of these conditions or
whether it simply happens to be around and that people test positive anyway due
to tests which are not accurate.
The tests used in Africa are two band rapid tests, a quick and cheap way
to test for HIV. However, as noted, tests of this sort and even more
comprehensive ELISA and Western Blot tests only test for antibody response.
They do not test for the virus and are not specific for HIV. The implications
for those who test positive is extremely serious, especially in Africa where
exposure to many other infectious and immune-suppressive illnesses e.g.,
malaria, Tuberculosis, Typhoid, Dysentery, Leprosy, even simply being pregnant
etc may be lead to a positive diagnosis, with consequent stigma and likely ARV/Septrin treatment, whether it is needed or not. If this is
true, then all statistics quoted of HIV/AIDS in Africa may be wrong. When
certain rapid tests were used in the United States, they were removed because
of the amount of false positive results.
Although it is theorized that AIDS originated in Africa and spread to
the West, what we see now is the importation of the AIDS industry into Africa,
with billions of dollars invested into its treatment and education. This
industry has become such a force in the whole “Aid” movement that more money is
spent on AIDS now than on all other diseases put together. So, there is a lot
at stake and many thousands, if not millions of people’s livelihoods are
dependent on this. In this climate therefore, it makes it hard to challenge the
accepted statistics given about the incidence of AIDS in Africa. Maybe it is
not what we are told and inadvertently the AIDS industry is becoming another
quasi-colonial endeavor onto the African continent
whose governments have acquiesced as the amounts of money and political
pressures are simply too great. The US President’s PEPFAR President’s Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief) fund, which channels funds to organizations such as
UNAIDS, Global AIDS Fund, USAID, UNDP, WHO, CDC etc, pledged over $46 billion
dollars over five years from 2008.
One other area of controversy is mother to child contamination, which
has led to a policy of giving all HIV positive mothers ARV’s
to prevent mother to child transmission. HIV positive and HIV negative children
born or HIV positive mothers are also given ARV’s.
According to research quoted in Christine Maggiore’s book, What If Everything
You Knew About AIDS Is Wrong, “at least 75% of babies born to HIV positive
mothers will test HIV negative without medical intervention. Over 90% of
children of mothers who receive regular prenatal care and are properly
nourished will test negative. Also it is known that children take up to 18
months to develop their own immune response and discard antibobodies
passed onto them from their mothers and that HIV testing before 18 months does
not yield conclusive results. And yet now, in Malawi, the WHO has instigated a
“voluntary” program to give ALL HIV positive pregnant women ARV medications for
LIFE, even
if they are healthy and have no clinical symptoms at all. This is
admittedly an experiment and yet, in spite of all evidence to the contrary that
questions routine use of ARV’s for HIV pregnant
women, the medical strategy of giving ARV’s is
becoming even more forceful.
All of these questions and issues surround AIDS in Africa and elsewhere.
If many of the things stated above are true, it means that the miasm of AIDS in Africa is much more than simply the virus
and the disease. It is also to do with the imposition of a cultural projection
and social/political force that in many ways mimics the worst of colonial
oppression, in which Africans are being exploited once more and where the fears
of Western culture are being imposed onto the African continent, this time in
the name of addressing the so-called scourge of AIDS, instead of the ‘noble’
colonial ideology of ‘Commerce, Christianity and Civilization’. Therefore, in
looking at the miasm of AIDS we see a forceful
imposition of one cultural perspective onto another, backed by
medical/political forces that represent one particular view of the syndrome of
AIDS in Africa. This can fit into the broader idea of an AIDS miasm as described below, a breaking down of boundaries as
an aspect of the Electronic Age.
An AIDS Miasm
The idea of an AIDS miasm, like any form of
classification is to see certain patterns, symptoms and general phenomena that
can link the disease to its etiology and broader
impact on the culture, as well as its ability to reflect an epigenetic impact
on people and between generations. In this broader idea of miasmatic
thinking, a miasm is as much a metaphor of the
prevailing culture as simply a disease. This concept was explored by Peter
Fraser in his book The AIDS Miasm, which sees AIDS as
a reflection of the modern electronic age and following on from the three major
miasms. He classifies the Tubercular and Cancer miasms slightly differently than the three major miasms, stating that they are a reaction to the big three miasms. As mentioned earlier, the characteristics of the
AIDS miasm are seen as a breaking down of all
boundaries, where there is no longer the concept of limitation and separation
as before. Fraser states that because of the nature of African culture, it
created a unique susceptibility to the disease, in other words, a cultural
susceptibility, which offers new ideas on the idea of the transmission of the
disease. To quote Fraser:
“The particular effect of man’s extension by Electronics, which Marshall
McLuhan called the extension of the nervous system of man, is to bring about an
almost complete destruction of the concept of distance in both space and
time…Boundaries disappear, they are of absolutely no consequence to electronic
communication or to airplanes.” To summarize this point, the Electronic Age
allows a new “global consciousness” to appear which transforms everything we
do: politics, economics, war, environmentalism and communication on all levels.
In other words a growing awareness of the interconnectedness of all things and
actions becomes clear. This is strongly apparent in the field of ecology and
the environment.
…where the shock of AIDS in Africa has been that much more devastating
than in the west. A continent that has remained basically tribal and feudal,
deliberately kept so by colonial and transnational interests is going to be
that much more susceptible to the influence of the Electronic Age. Fraser
states that AIDS in Africa is killing the same proportion of the population
that smallpox killed in the Americas. He feels similar risks affect other
countries such as India and in South-east Asia and even Russia that have
remained more feudal than industrial.
(Actually this hasn’t transpired for a number of reasons, including the
unique dynamics of African life, the prevalence of malaria and Tb. and other
factors, including the greater resistance of Indians, Russians and Asians to
Western influence - Ed).
Therefore, the unique susceptibility of Africa is due to the imposition
of the dynamics of the electronic age onto a culture like Africa which is
identified with tribal and feudal dynamics, leading to a more violent and acute
expression of the disease. The acuteness of the way the disease has spread is
similar to that of other acute epidemics of the past throughout the world,
including smallpox, TB. the plague etc. In this way it can be seen as an acute
expression of the psoric miasm
but now put into the context of the electronic age.
Fraser makes a case that Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) and some forms
of Alzheimer’s belong to the AIDS miasm. He states
that the neurological pathologies of AIDS, CJD and other opportunistic
infections associated with AIDS, such as toxoplasmosis, cytomegaly
virus and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
lead to damage to the central nervous system or peripheral nerves. There is
also a type of AIDS dementia, which the author states could be a direct result
of the retro rvirus.
In discussing the AIDS nosode as a remedy,
Fraser mentions the overriding pattern in the nosode
and in the AIDS miasm is the dissolution of
boundaries and the stresses that are caused by that dissolution. This analysis
fits the previous discussion of the possible cause and spread of AIDS through
vaccine production and other medical and military research. The age of
communication has reached its ultimate stage when the whole world can be
connected with contaminated blood used in vaccines that originate from a
different species. In this scenario there is a complete breakdown of the
natural human and species barriers that have protected us for millions of
years. It is an unknown phenomenon, one that has yet to play its way out in the
human story. It doesn’t promise to get any better soon, with the relentless
pursuit of yet more vaccines for every conceivable condition, including that of
AIDS.
He summarizes the main themes of the AIDS miasm
as follows:
“The primary effect of the dissolution of boundaries is that CONNECTION
can be made without obstruction or interference. However, connection becomes
DISCONNECTION and isolation. This leads to INDIFFERENCE, which then leads to
DISPERSION, INSTABILITY, a tendency to EXTREMES and CONFUSION. There is a
tendency towards passivity and FEMININIZATION, which is seen in society and in
symptoms. There is increasing VULNERABILITY, a sensitivity to INFECTION and a
LACK OF CONFIDENCE, and issues around BOUNDARIES and the PORTALS that penetrate
them”.
The author then lists a series of words that fit each of these themes.
For example in CONFUSION, he lists confusion of the senses, of identity, a
vanishing of thoughts, forgetfulness, transgenic confusion, confusion about
time, position and words.
The term passivity is interesting, especially as it pertains to Africa.
It has often been seen that when Africans are sick, they become very passive
and accepting, simply lying down and not resisting their illness. They don’t
fight back. David Livingstone and other colonial and religious missionaries in
Africa often noticed this, but paradoxically along with a great resistance and
perseverance. They can endure many things that others can’t, which is why
Africans were used as slaves for so long. But once they become ill, they can
give up. They feel they have no power to control events. This obviously ties
into a fatalistic philosophy dominant still on the continent. Most people don’t
know what their relatives die from. Death is often just around the corner, and
simply can’t be avoided or controlled. One simply waits ones turn, without
being able to do anything. There are forces outside of human control and far
more powerful than any human ability to control, that one simply has to accept.
There are dark forces that can be manipulated to cause harm to others and it is
hard to resist. In other words, we are not in control, there is nothing to be
done. This belief system creates a cultural susceptibility and perhaps which
influences the way AIDS has manifested in Africa. The condition of SLIM is
perhaps the most graphic example of this, where people simply give up eating.
They lose all hope and desire to live. It is the ultimate in fatalism but also,
practically speaking, when many people’s diet is dependent on cassava, it
becomes unpalatable when other digestive problems occur due to AIDS and there
is simply nothing else to eat. People slowly starve to death. It seems the effect
of remedies in these cases is to restore hope and the will to live.
The theory of a Radiation Miasm
Jeremy and Camilla Sherr have been focusing on
treating AIDS in Tanzania and they have approached the condition from a genus epidemicus approach using classical homeopathic
methodology. They have explored AIDS as well from a miasmatic
perspective, seeking to understand the key remedies that are working clinically
and putting this into a miasmatic perspective. They
feel that AIDS in Africa is a combination of the psoric
and radiation miasm. This does not fit into
conventional miasmatic theory but is partly based on
the fact that they have used the remedy California muriaticum
and nitricum in some AIDS cases, both belonging to
the Lanthanides series of remedies.
The psoric aspect is fairly easy to see, as
the basic issues facing many people here are very basic - getting enough food
to eat and simply surviving. When the disease is seen, often people simply give
up and don’t fight, a passive reaction to the disease. The radiation aspect is
harder to see but Sherr has given the remedy
Californian muriaticum in a number of AIDS cases now.
He has seen it work well particularly when ARV’s are
no longer working. He associated a similar destructive pattern with AIDS to the
effects of radiation and identified issues similar to characteristics theorized
to be of the radiation miasm and lanthanides
remedies. AIDS is the disease of modern age, and since 1945 and the first
atomic bombs the whole world has moved into the influence of radioactive forces
and the plutonic elements of the underworld (unconscious forces, unraveling the past, all the suppressed elements being
revealed, like an X ray).
Sherr states:
I have often related the radioactive remedies to cases of serious pathology,
diseases of the late 20th and 21st century. Radiology has been used by
conventional medicine for the treatment of cancer. Since the discoveries of
Uranium in 1898 and the use of atom bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945,
humanity has moved from the 6th syphilitic period into the 7th radioactive
period, reflected in warfare, science, culture, media, the internet and
disease. I discussed this subject in my article “50 years to Hiroshima” (Links,
Autumn 1995, J. Sherr) The loss of identity results
in the loss of immunity, who am I and who is the other.
The radioactive period relates to the scattering and mixing of world
populations and the breakdown of the individual and global immune system.
Particular in African history has many analogies with the radioactive remedies
through its association with roots, genetics, ancestry and the uprooting of
lives by slavery, colonization and plundering of natural resources. In recent
times
Africa has been used as a dumping ground for Western radioactive waste
(Beheton,2000)
(Quoted from article in Homeopathic
LINKS, Winter 2012)
The cases showed some very good effect in classic cases of AIDS where
the ARV’s were not working, the CD4 levels were
declining and where in fact it seems some of the major symptoms were due to the
side effects of ARV’s (= Antiretroviral drug), It may
therefore be seen that the radioactive remedies like California muriaticum and nitricum as well
as other Lanthanides are mainly suitable for the side-effects of the ARV’s, as opposed to the primary effect of viral
compromise. That would also fit into the radioactive identity as the ARV’s are a product of the era in which we live. It has
also been seen that, especially in the early years of the disease, when toxic
doses of ARV’s were given, especially AZT, it
actually gave people AIDS. The drug simply further suppressed the immune
system, often killing people before the disease did.
The drugs are a product of the West and reflect the ideas and impulses
of that culture - incl. building atom bombs and using radiation in medicine.
AZT was initially a drug produced to treat cancer, but was shelved due to its
toxicity. Even clinical trials had to be stopped due to liver toxicity, so its
widespread and continued use - albeit in more moderate doses, further fits the
destructive qualities seen in the radioactive miasm.
It is interesting to look at some of the ideas postulated to be of the
radioactive miasm - destructiveness beyond syphilis,
a profound loss of identity, issues of genetics, ancestry and the deep past,
including the power of magic. All these are characteristics of African culture,
according to Sherr, especially around AIDS at this
time. Perhaps it fits into a cultural susceptibility of Africa combined with
the theory that AIDS originated from the contamination of humans with a simian
virus (SV40), possibly through polio and/or smallpox vaccines, as opposed to
the conventional theory of Africans eating contaminated bush meat. The possible
man-made nature of such a disease adds a possible tragic factor to the already
existing trauma of the disease throughout the world, not totally different to
the trauma of man releasing the power of nuclear forces and plutonic influences
onto the world. Some people have even theorized that HIV came out of the
biological warfare labs in the United States!
Other remedies that Sherr used AIDS: Caust. Zinc-met. Chin. Germanium, Magnesiums,
Olive, Nat-m. Sulph. Psor.,
which he sees as mainly psoric influence; Ozone and
Kali-c. in psora/tubercular; Adamas,
Bac. Tub. and Salmon in more Tubercular cases; AIDS nosode, Cryptococcus and California muriaticum
and nitricum in the Radioactive miasm
and Mercury, Fl-ac. Plb-met. and Ars.
in the syphilitic miasm.
However, it has to be said that identifying the “radiation miasm” as a key aspect of AIDS in Africa is still somewhat
speculative. As mentioned, if significant it is likely to be due to the effect
of ARV therapy and how so many AIDS cases seen today are a mixture of symptoms
of AIDS and the ARV’s being taken. 5 of the remedies
mentioned by Sherr: Olive, Adamas,
Germanium, Salmon and Californicum muriaticum were proven by him and his wife, making one
question whether other homeopaths would recognize their significance as a genus
epidemicus remedy for AIDS and given the broad
syndrome nature of AIDS diagnoses, it is likely other homeopaths would come up
with other remedies.
[Jan Scholten] Treatment of HIV/AIDS by doing
clinical research into a remedy called Iquilae (Quelle: remedia.at) a combination
remedy of various lanthanides remedies - Thulium is likely one of them but his
website doesn’t specify the exact ingredients, making it harder to validate.
(www.aidsremedyfund.org). In the research, statistically verified improvement
was found on all levels, including CD4 levels, mental and physical well being,
including evaluation using the Karnofsky’s score. So
far, the results have looked promising. Some of the subjects were on ARV’s, some not and most had quite low CD4 levels. The
remedy was given once a day for 5 days only. Subjects were followed up at 1, 4
and some at 7 months. Around 250 people were given the drug. Results are
summarized as follows:
More than 95% of the patients
had a positive response to the remedy.
There was a strong improvement
in their health status.
Opportunistic infections healed without further intervention.
65% of the patients were
requiring assistance (Karnofsky score < = 60) and
changed their status to being able to perform their normal duties again.(Karnofsky >=80)
The CD4 cell values of the
tested group showed significant increases.
Those patients who did not get
ART and had CD4 cell counts below 200 could postpone ART due to significantly
increased cell values.
Side effects from regular ART
were reduced.
Although these preliminary results seem positive, they again have to be
seen in the context of all the variable factors mentioned above, including
false-positive diagnoses, the syndrome nature of AIDS diagnosis, the theory of
HIV as a co-factor and also the unreliability of CD4 measurements as a distinct
indication of HIV infection. It has been noted by researchers that CD4 counts,
like the HIV test itself is not specific to HIV. One research in Malawi showed
that many Malawians who were HIV negative also showed low CD4 counts, to the
level at which if positive and asymptomatic, they would still be put on ARV’s.
All these factors make the challenges of doing scientifically verifiable
research more challenging. If we can’t be sure that many who say they are
positive are actually that, and if the complex of symptoms can be attributed to
other conditions, then what are we exactly researching? Also, given the intense
political influences around the whole AIDS industry, what can homeopaths hope
to achieve in doing research? Time will tell, but as seen with the AIDS miasm, confusion and dissolution seem to be common
patterns.
Peter Chappell and Harrie van der Zee, using PC resonances for AIDS and other diseases,
have speculated that the lesson of AIDS is to see that sex without love has
consequences, and that particularly in Africa, the crisis of AIDS is forcing a
re-evaluation of the traditional relationship between a man and woman, where
the woman (wife) has no choice in matters of when to have sex and in general
holds little power in the relationship. Now the woman needs to take more power
and have a voice in these matters. (In spite of the fact that many women do
have some financial autonomy and are more independent than in other cultures,
they none the less still lack many freedoms, even though they often take the
most responsibility in a family situation to feed children, work the land and
keep everything together). In the West, particularly in the gay community,
where sexual expression was taken to extreme lengths, maybe the lesson of AIDS
is to force a change in such behavior. If one seeks
to understand the deeper meaning of any disease, or to put another way, the
purpose of a disease, then making such conclusions can make a lot of sense. For
other people, it may seem too abstract and interpretative, even too
‘spiritual’.
When Peter Chappell first explored the use of homeopathy for AIDS in
Africa, he realized that the differences in many cases were slight and that
individualizing remedies for each person was too laborious and perhaps not the
most productive method. He speculated that if one could find a genus epidemicus remedy for most cases, this would be more
practical and reflective of the collective susceptibility within Africa.
But he said he couldn’t see one or even a few remedies, which led him to
experiment by “asking” a “divine/non-human” intelligence to make a “resonance”
similar to that of the collective state of AIDS in Africa.
This became the basis of the PC resonances, and since then, many others
have been created to address conditions such as malaria, Tb., diabetes,
hypertension and more. The idea is that they are working on a homeopathic basis
on a genus epidemicus model and yet are not actual
homeopathic remedies, at least from a traditional perspective.
The idea of collective susceptibility is discussed by Harry van der Zee and Peter Chappell in “Homeopathy for Diseases” and
in Peter Fraser’s book. In African culture, the idea of individual ego identity
and separation have not taken hold in the same way as in the West. Not being
under the cultural influence of Western thought, the Enlightenment and
individualism in all its forms, their spiritual identity is woven into the
fabric of family, tribe and village. Therefore their susceptibility to AIDS is
also different. This could be one reason we see very different images of AIDS
in Africa than we see in the West. The cultural susceptibility is different.
This led Peter and Harry van de Zee to use PC1 (Africa) for all cases of AIDS,
there being one for males and another for females. In the last 10 years, they
have been using PC1 for AIDS and a variety of other PC’s
for other conditions. A different PC1 for AIDS is used in the West to reflect
the different nature of the disease there.
Many homeopaths may be uncomfortable with the “nature” of PC remedies,
finding them too esoteric and not homeopathy at all, in spite of Peter and Harry’s experience as homeopaths and the described method
of resonance being based on a homeopathic affinity. However, ten years of
committed work seems to show that they can work well, for a variety of
conditions. Like anything, they don’t work all the time but the evidence is
positive. However, it is understandable if some homeopaths don’t want to go
there, and like other homeopathic methods to treat AIDS it may be hard to
validate the method beyond anecdotal evidence and certainly would stretch the
credulity of conventional science on hearing the esoteric method of
“manufacture” of the PC resonances.
However, both Jeremy and Camilla Sherr and Jan
Scholten have adopted a more genus epidemicus style of addressing AIDS, the former from a
classical methodology of finding a number of single remedies and with the
latter, the use of a combination lanthanide remedy, as described above. The use
of lanthanides, as mentioned may be indicated more the side effects of ARV’s than on primary AIDS and similar to the PC remedies,
establishing categorical proof of action may be very hard, especially as it is
not clear how many people they are treating really have AIDS and how many are
suffering a variety of different conditions, including Tb. and side effects of
Tb. and AIDS medications.
The Rising of the Psoric miasm
and its malarial brother
It is commonly described in homeopathic literature that the main themes
of psora are a perennial struggle; a struggle to be
and to do; a struggle to survive, to have enough, to keep warm; a struggle to
know who one is and where one is going in life. The remedy psorinum
-the nosode representing the miasm,
similar to other nosodes- shows some of the clearest
symptoms of the miasm with the fear of poverty and of
isolation, the feeling of being neglected, of being cold and all alone, with
not enough to eat, of always being hungry and struggling with the existential
anxiety of being. There is never enough and an itch that can’t be satiated.
In studying the ongoing experience of many millions of Africans, daily
subsistence life is a struggle. Food is not plentiful, life is very insecure and
there is ongoing anxiety of having enough to eat and being able to survive.
Life is a struggle, a classic psoric experience. This
expresses itself as a constant fear of not having enough, even if there is
enough, and even wealthy people can feel the need to hold on to everything they
have and to acquire as much as they can as you never know what can happen.
Today you eat, tomorrow you don’t. Even most forms of corruption are described
in terms of eating. “It is their turn to eat” being a common turn throughout
Africa for corrupt practices. This historical and daily experience is the
reality for millions of Africans, with between 25% not getting enough to eat on
a regular basis and maybe another 25% suffering some forms of nutritional
deficiency. Therefore the concept of LACK is central here. Out of this terrain,
many diseases arise, including malaria, Tb. and AIDS. Most Africans though are
remarkably resolute and optimistic in their response to the travails and
struggles of life. They may be fatalistic and passive once they really get sick
but before that they remain cheerful and show a lot of heart in dealing with
situations that most Westerners would find hard to bear. This therefore shows
the tubercular influence, the ability to remain positive in spite of
circumstances. However, woven around this is the sense that nothing is easy.
There are always obstacles, things will fall part, as the title of Chinua
Achebe’s famous book states. For anyone who has worked or spent time in Africa,
things do fall apart. Getting stuff done is not easy. The lack of social
cohesion and basic chaotic nature of how things function lead to the malarial miasm, a sense of struggle against adversity, an initial
effort and inspiration becoming thwarted, leading to exhaustion and hopelessness.
This characterizes the remedy China and also the profound impact that malaria
has had on the collective consciousness on much of Sub Saharan Africa. Homeopathically, this all make sense; the impact of malaria
affects on all levels; physical, mental and spiritual. The African continent is
continually struggling to free itself of ongoing economic and political chaos
and until now being left behind in economic development by most other
countries. Most Sub Saharan African countries come near the bottom of most
indicators of economic and social development. Psora
and malaria are the miasmatic reflections of this
experience.
The focus on food and the desire to have a full belly is strong in
Africa. Many people eat only twice a day and often it is the same food. The
main staples in Africa today are maize and cassava.
Millet is eaten in some countries and rice also is commonly found. One
of the indigenous crops is sorghum but that is not eaten much now, cassava
having taken over as a major staple.
Cassava is an interesting food. It is well suited to subsistence life.
It grows easily, even in drought and in bad soil. It requires no fertilizer and
can be replanted year after year. It gives excellent carbohydrate energy and is
very efficient crop to grow, given limited resources and land. However, it
offers virtually no protein at all. What it does offer is balanced in amino
acids but you can barely survive on it. To be healthy, alternative forms of
protein have to be found. But it fills you up like nothing else. It satiates
hunger, even the idea of hunger. It seems to tap into the miasmatic
memory of hunger. Many Africans love it and eating large amounts is central to
their lives. Without it, they don’t feel full. I have seen people eat volumes
of rice but still say they don’t feel satisfied until they have had their
cassava; but it is hard to digest and is an acquired taste. In fact, it tastes
of nothing in particular, its effect more in the solid, satisfying full feeling
one has on eating it. The proportion of cassava (carbohydrate) to protein
(fish, meat, beans) is much greater than the portions we eat in the West. This
suits a subsistence lifestyle where digging daily for survival is the main
occupation and physical labor a daily chore. Millions
of subsistence farmer in Africa simply live off what they grow and supplement
this with small amounts of animal product and vegetables, if they can afford
it. But for many people, life is lived on the margins of hunger. There is never
enough it seems (although in reality, even in famine times, food is often
around. It just doesn’t get to those who need it. There is nearly always food).
There is often tension around food and where it will come from. If you organize
an event, or meeting, the first question often is, what are we eating?
Conclusions:
AIDS in Africa is often connected to the experience of hunger. Although
AIDS has affected wealthier, middle class Africans, for the most part, those
more affected will be suffering from a lack of nutritional balance and a dependence
on a few staple foods and as mentioned, most people living in Africa will be in
the same ‘morphogenetic’ field.
The psoric miasm is
therefore the most dominant miasm in many AIDS cases.
However, as described above, tuberculosis is one of the most common conditions
now attributed to HIV/AIDS, and the tubercular miasm
is seen as a common influence in much of Africa. The consequence of colonialism
and the breaking down of tribal, village life, with the rapid explosion of
urban centers has profoundly changed African society.
Rapid urbanization has occurred more quickly in many African countries than
anywhere else on the planet. More recently, the availability of cell phones and
consequent ability to communicate all over the country, if not the world has
also thrust a traditional cultures into the 21st century. This shift fits into
the tubercular miasm as people now see the chance to
escape, to find a new life, and yet still often remain stuck in their
situation, due to financial and practical challenges. In the West, we often
simply saw another aspect of the tubercular miasm
express itself (gay community), also mixed with the result of suppressed sycotic and syphilitic influences.
So we see the intrinsic psoric state being
challenged by the tubercular impulse and when that fails, to fall back into psoric apathy and passivity and the malarial frustration
and exhaustion, or it can become more violent and destructive, as seen in the
syphilitic miasm. This latter impulse is seen more in
societies in which the fabric of social cohesion becomes totally lost e.g.
parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The proposed radiation miasm, (or at least the rationalization for the lanthanide
remedies) can be seen as a result of the use of ARV’s
and their side effects. These drugs, beginning with AZT ( a failed and toxic
cancer drug) and then to protease inhibitors and now the new breed of anti-retrovirals, all belong to the consciousness of “modern
science” and the political forces that have supported this industry and now
imposed on to Africa. It would also include the possibility of AIDS being a
man-made disease, plutonic forces “accidentally” released onto the world, like
nuclear weapons and power, where radiation leaks into the world.
AIDS is one of most challenging and complex syndromes experienced by
humans. The ongoing controversy that still surrounds it and the political
consequences of the AIDS industry (9) makes it hard to see the miasmatic view of the disease from a homeopathic point of
view. But by looking at the combined influence of existing miasms
and also by studying the unique characteristics of AIDS cases and the broader
social, cultural and political influences, one can ideally piece together
themes that make sense.
Resources:
: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/it-only-took-50-years-cdc-admits-polio-vaccine-tainted-with-cancer-causing-virus/#sthash.jgL3kflE.dpuf.
Marco Ruggerio,
an Italian biologist and AIDS specialist stated that:
In our paper (Italian Journal of Anatomy and Histology, vol. 114,
97-108, 2009) we report that occupational exposure to HIV is uncommon, and the
overall risk of seroconversion after contact with HIV
positive blood is extremely low (seroconversion rate,
0-0.42%). It is calculated that, on average 99.7% of health care workers, who
are exposed to HIV, will not be infected (Ippolito et
al., 1993; Marcus, 1988). In general, most health care professionals found to
be HIV-positive have a history of behavioural (male homosexual contact or
intravenous drug use) or transfusion exposure (Chamberland
et al., 1995). - Marco Ruggiero
HIV-associated tuberculosis
(Tb.) remains a substantial challenge to international public health,
accounting for an estimated 1.1 million new Tb. cases and 0.35 million deaths
worldwide in 2010.
A staggering 82% of these cases and71% of deaths were in sub-Saharan
Africa. This burden of disease represents a particular challenge to
antiretroviral treatment (ART) programmes in the region as it is concentrated
in patients accessing these services. Approximately 5 - 40% of patients
enrolling in ART services have a current Tb. diagnosis at the time of starting
ART. In addition, there is a high incidence of disease during the initial
months of ART, much of which represents prevalent disease present at baseline
that was not detected during screening. Long term rates are lowered
substantially during ART, but nevertheless remain several fold higher than
rates in HIV-uninfected people living in the same communities.
World Health Organisation Global tuberculosis control 2011. Geneva:
World Health Organisation. WHO/HTM/TB/2011.16.
According to the Karonga Prevention Study (in
process of changing its name to the Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention
Research Unit), a large research program in Northern Malawi that focuses on the
link between tuberculosis and AIDS (sponsored by the Wellcome
Trust), up to 60% of Tb. cases are HIV positive.
This issue was explored in the
movie House of Numbers, which explored the validity of AIDS tests and the
statistics of numbers of AIDS cases in Africa and other countries.
In the book What If Everything You Knew About AIDS Was Wrong, by
Christine Maggiore, p.11, she lists about 50 factors that have been
scientifically shown to cause positive results on HIV antibody tests, including
acute viral infections, flu vaccinations, flu, Hepatitis, Hepatitis B vaccine,
Herpes simplex, Leprosy, Tetanus vaccine, Tuberculosis etc. Her source was
taken from Continuum magazine (an AIDS activist journal, no longer in
publication but available online) Vol 4:3 p5 with all
sources of each condition referenced to scientific publications.
Testing, Testing… Do HIV Antibody Tests Prove HIV infection.
Valendar Turner MD, Department of Emergency Medicine,Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Western Australia.
First published in Continuum Magazine Vol 3, No 5.
Revised in July 2001.
Molecular Miscarriage: Is the HIV Theory a Tragic Mistake. Neville Hodgkinson. Mothering magazine, Sept/Oct 2001
A Study from Zaire, in which 67% of leprosy patients and 23% of their
contacts tested HIV positive, found that only two of the patients and none of
their contacts could be confirmed as positive using more detailed and expensive
procedures. Even the two cases were questionable.
A number of rapid tests were
taken off the market in New York in 2008 because of a high number of false
positives, according to U.S News on June 23, 2008.
“Now that an estimated 1 in 4 Americans with HIV is infected without
knowing it, tests that provide rapid results have been welcomed with open arms.
But imagine if you were told you’re HIV positive and later learn that you
actually don’t have the virus. In New York City, some people have had that
experience: One rapid test that examines oral fluid samples—the OraQuick Advance Rapid HIV-1/2 Antibody Test—has produced a
higher than expected number of false positives, leading the city’s Department
of Health and Mental Hygiene to suspend use of the test in its STD clinics; the
OraQuick finger prick test is still in use.
“Jennifer Ruth, a spokesperson at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, says the agency is investigating clusters
of false positives associated with the oral test in other jurisdictions as
well. The uptick in false positives was the subject of the CDC’s June 18
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (OraSure
Technologies, the maker of the oral test, says that while New York City data
showed higher than expected rates of false positives, the nationwide data the
company has gathered are reassuring.) The CDC has not yet determined the cause
of the increase in false positive results but is planning a study in areas that
perform large numbers of HIV tests and have experienced an increase in false
positive results.”
“(PEPFAR) is America’s
commitment to fighting the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. Through shared
responsibility and smart investments, PEPFAR is saving lives, building more
secure families and helping to stabilize fragile nations. With the generous
support of the American people, the U.S. Government has committed approximately
$46 billion to bilateral HIV/AIDS programs, the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria, and bilateral TB programs through fiscal year (FY)
2010.”
Pepfar website
What if Everything You Thought
You Knew About AIDS Was Wrong. Christine Maggiore. Published by The American
Foundation for AIDS Alternatives, Studio City, CA 91604. P. 24. (Quoted
research: New England Journal of Medicine November 3 1994 331:18 p 1176-1177: Semba R. et al 1993 Increased Mortality Associated with
Vitamin A Deficiency during HIV-1 Infection Arch Intern Med 153:2149-2154:
WHO/UNAIDS 1998 HIV and Infant Feeding, A Guide for Health Care Managers and
Supervisors FRH/Nut 98,22: HealthNews Mothering
magazine Summer 1997 p40; Dew J October 9 1999 New born HIV Tests Criticized
New Haven Register
Normal Range of CD4 Cell Counts
and Temporal Changes in Two HIV Negative Malawian Populations
A.C. Crampin*, F.D. Mwaungulu,
L.R. Ambrose, H. Longwe and N. French
The Open AIDS Journal, 2011, 5, 74-79
The range of CD4 counts in HIV negative adults in Malawi is lower than
that on which standard reference ranges are based and CD4 count is not constant
in this group, with dips to levels below that which constitutes eligibility for
ART in HIV positive adults.
Government-by-exception:
Enrolment and experimentality in mass HIV treatment
programmes in Africa
Author: Nguyen, V K.
Publication info: Social Theory & Health, suppl. Special Issue:
HIV/AIDS 7. 3 (Aug 2009): 196-217.
Abstract: This paper explores the
implications of mass HIV treatment programmes in Africa, particularly when
non-governmental organizations, American universities or European hospitals,
directly govern the lives of populations (such as those living with HIV) and in
fact have power of life or death over them. It explores a novel form of
legitimate, therapeutic domination that results from framing the epidemic as a
humanitarian emergency. That lives be saved requires enrolment: that a
standardized population be called into being so that it may then be targeted,
relying on the deployment of biological and political technologies for
constituting populations and transforming bodies and subjectivities. These
transformations that seek to direct consciousness and change bodily practice
are governmentalities exceptionally directed at the
biological existence of those living with or potentially at risk for HIV. And,
in an inversion of the classical model whereby evidence of efficacy permits
intervention, in this case intervention drives the need for self-validating
evidence (that is, the intervention was effective). The conjugation of these
standardized humanitarian problems and populations with the production of
post-facto, self-validating knowledge (most often described as ‘lessons
learned’ or ‘best practices’) is an ‘experimentality’
that leverages the deployment of these interventions across the globe.
[Peter Fraser]
An Understanding of the AIDS
Miasm
Introduction
The last dozen years have seen the proving of new remedies on a scale
not known since the pre-war period. The best of these provings
have been carefully conducted by experienced homœopaths
using a sufficiently large number of provers to
provide a clear, recognizable picture of the remedy.
In spite of the clarity of these pictures they contain a large number of
common elements which are not so common in the pictures of remedies proved in
former times. This can lead to a confusion that makes these remedies difficult
to use. Some homœopaths find them confusing and
ignore them all together. Others know the pictures of a few of these remedies
and tend to see features of those few remedies in too many cases. It is
therefore important that we, as homœopaths, are able
to distinguish between those symptoms that are common to these remedies and indicate
that one of them is called for; and those symptoms that are characteristic of
the individual remedies.
It is not entirely surprising that the symptoms appearing in current provings should share a certain degree of homogeneity. The provers are generally homœopaths,
homœopathic students or people with experience of homœopathic treatment. They tend to come from a similar
socio-eco-nomic background and will often have
spiritual and philosophic common ground.
The remedy chosen for proving chosen because they reflect issues
important to the proving coordinators but are often also chosen for their
relationship to issues important in our society in general.
This situation is not a new one and modern provers
and provings reflect our society in the same way that
the work of Hahnemann’s Provers’ Union reflected his.
Critics of modern provings have taken the
commonalities found in these provings as evidence of
their inadequacies. They take them as evidence that they brought out the
symptoms of the provers rather than of the remedies.
On the whole these critics have not participated in the proving process and so
do not have first hand experience of understanding a proving
Miasmatic Theory
In many ways we find ourselves in a position that echoes that in which
Hahnemann found himself after the publication of “The Organon”
and “Materia Medica Pura”, and which led to the writing of
Chronic Diseases. He found that he and his most devout students had
great success in treating many of the most virulent epidemic diseases. However,
though they were also apparently successful in
treating non-epidemic diseases, they found that they tended to recur and
that the recurrences became both more frequent and more serious.
Hahnemann concluded that there were diseases that deeply infected the
entire organism, and which the vital force reacts to by externalizing in skin
symptoms. The suppression of these skin symptoms through applications of
allopathic medicine and even homœopathic treatment of
only the superficial disease, results in the central disease having to find
deeper and more serious expressions.
This process results in illnesses that affect the internal organs and
tissues rather than just the skin.
The suppression of external, and therefore more obvious, expressions of the
disease had also meant that the disease was less apparent and thus could spread
more easily. Psora, The Itch Disease, which Hahnemann
considered to be the same as the Leprosy found in the Bible and in medieval
times, had been carefully controlled. In Biblical times the disease and contact
with it was proscribed by the rules carefully laid out in Leviticus XIII and a
major role of the priests was to prevent the spread of the disease.
The Three Classic Miasms
Hahnemann proposed that there were three miasmatic
diseases.
Psora or The Itch which is caused through
infestation by the scabies mite. The fully developed form of this disease,
which is now known as Norwegian Scabies, is very rarely seen except in the
severely immuno-suppressed. It is seen more often
in animals where it takes the form of Mange, but it was common in ancient times
where it was known as Leprosy (it is distinct from
Hansen’s disease, the modern leprosy caused by Mycobacterium leprae). For Hahnemann, Psora was
the most important of the chronic miasmatic diseases.
Its primary expression was in an itching eruption, but even in Hahnemann’s day
this had been effectively suppressed and become the thousand headed hydra,
expressing itself through a long roll-call of secondary symptoms.
Miasmatic Qualities
The miasmatic diseases have several common
qualities. The most important of these is that they have a metaphoric
importance that appears to transcend the
physical reality of the disease. It is as if there is a spiritual essence to
these diseases of which the disease itself is merely a physical and secondary
manifestation. These diseases have received attention that goes far beyond
their
physical importance and those affected by them have often received
opprobrium and been reviled and outcast in a manner that vastly exceeds
practical considerations.
They are all diseases in which the immune system plays a role. They are
much more expressive and virulent in those whose immune systems are compromised
and they tend to cause a diminution of the immune response, allowing secondary
infections to thrive.
These three diseases are also, primarily, venereal diseases. They are
transmitted through sexual activity and they are inextricably linked to
promiscuity and immorality. They have often been seen as the wages of sin and
as divine retribution meted out on those whose personal standards of morality
has been found wanting.
The diseases have long incubation periods or have the ability to lie
dormant.
AIDS
There is a disease, AIDS, that has appeared in the last quarter century
that has all the qualities of a true miasmatic
disease.
It is a venereal disease, it involves a breakdown of the immune system,
it has a long incubation period and it very quickly acquired enormously
significant metaphoric importance.
AIDS follows the pattern of the other original miasmatic
diseases in that it takes disease to a new, deeper level.
Psora is a parasite whose primary action is confined
to the skin.
Sycosis is a bacterium whose primary action
moves from the skin through the blood and begins to destroy the soft tissues.
Syphilis is also a bacterium and again moves through the skin and the
blood but eventually attacks the nervous system, which it destroys along with
the bones and hard tissues.
HIV is a virus, the next finer type of morbific
agent, it moves from the skin to the blood and results in the destruction of
both soft and hard tissues (nerves). However, HIV is a retrovirus and in its
action it moves to a deeper and more fundamental level. It subverts the
organism’s own genetic material and processes and uses them to its own ends at
the expense of the host.
These excerpts not complete Miasmatic Disease
as a Reaction to Human Development
Platonic Ideals: That which is below is like unto that which is above
and that which is above is like unto that which is below.
This is the primary statement of “The Emerald Tablet of Hermes” which is
the first and most important text of alchemy. The concept that there is a
correspondence between different worlds was central to alchemy and to
alchemical medicine, and as such it passed through Paracelsus, Hahnemann and
Kent to be central to homœopathic philosophy.
The most important expression of this concept is a spiritual one that
was first, and perhaps most clearly, to be seen in the philosophy of Plato.
The Platonic Forms exist in another place but they are the model that is
imperfectly echoed on Earth in everything that we can sense. The same principle
is found in Kabbalistic thought, where the perfect
forms that are the thought of God become increasingly manifest as they come
closer to the material world. In the Swedenborgian
philosophy that was so important to Kent and Farrington,
the Angels of Heaven represent the various forms, and they become
manifest in the physical world. A modern version is Sheldrake’s morphic fields, where an unmeasurable
energy field guides
material growth and creation.
Microcosm
In the Microcosm, the individual human, the vital spirit reacts to disease
by expressing that disease through physical symptoms and the physical symptoms
that it chooses are those that will do least harm to the function and well
being of the organism. These are tenets that are basic to the understanding and
practice of homœopathy. The body produces symptoms in
a number of ways. It does so directly by disrupting function and even making
structural changes. This type of symptom is referred to by allopaths
as idiopathic, as it has no obvious external cause. The body can utilize an
external
force to provide the necessary physical symptom. This may be through the
action of what Hahnemann calls, an accident (= zufall),
an occurrence or perhaps even a coincidence. If the body is not in a position
to physically manifest symptoms it can create the illusion of the symptom
through a Miasm.
Macrocosm
In the Macrocosm, the wider world or society, the same thing can be
expected to happen. There are stresses that are beyond the power of a society’s
vital spirit to deal with. That society must then find symptoms that will allow
it to continue operating. Some of these will be symptoms of the society itself,
others will affect a number of individuals. These individuals become the
scapegoats of society; just as some organs and tissues are sacrificed for the
good of the whole individual. The four principal miasmatic
diseases (including AIDS) can be studied in relation to the history of culture
and society. By understanding the stresses to which they were, and are, a
response, we can better understand them and better differentiate the remedies
that might be used to treat them.
Extensions of Man
During the 1960s Marshall McLuhan, a professor of English Literature at
the University of Toronto, proposed a radical rethink of the way that we view
media and the effect that it has on us. Although he became something of a guru
at the time, his theories were little understood and soon faded from the
mainstream. In spite of his current obscurity most of his observations have been
confirmed by subsequent events and much of the material in Understanding Media,
his seminal work of 1964, can now be seen as prophetic of the way in which the
media, the internet and the corporate world have developed.
Language, Tools, Awareness and Psora
The first extension that caused a complete shift in the way mankind
thought, felt and behaved was the invention of language. The same change in
behaviour, bipedalism, that allowed the physiological
changes to the larynx and so complex speech; also left the arms free to develop
the use of tools. The extension of the hands through tools allowed a greater
diversity of activity
and made mankind more adaptable. However, it was the adoption of speech,
and especially of language, that caused the most important changes in the way
we are.
In primate societies without speech, almost all the interaction within
the society, the things that bind the group together and structure the
relationships between its members, is tactile. This usually involves fighting
or playing and especially mutual grooming, though with the Bonobo
chimp it consists substantially of recreational sex. Verbal signals can play a
part in establishing a hierarchy but they are more important in keeping the
outsider away. In human society, speech plays much of the role that is borne by
touch.
The Changing Role of Women
The way in which the move from Industrial to Electronic Society and the
consequent dissolution of boundaries has changed the world can perhaps be most
clearly seen in the changing role of women. In Feudal Society sexual
relationships are contained quite neatly within the feudal hierarchy. They are
as much part of the exchange process as any other, and ideally they take place
between husband and wife or man and mistress or whore, that is between adjacent
members of the hierarchy. In the industrial framework in which the individual
is accountable to the State, to God or to the industrial complex the sexual
relationship has no easy valid place and continuously threatens to undermine
the structure. This danger was contained partly by commercializing sex and
bringing it under the control of the market, but more importantly by making the
family a microcosm of the state in which all authority was vested in the
paterfamilias and all relationships, including sexual ones,
were directed through him. Thus in the Victorian household the only
acceptable sexual relationship was between the head of the household and his
wife and even that was not fully approved of.
Children and Childhood
The same process that has resulted in equal rights for all individuals
of whatever race, creed, gender or class, at least theoretically and in
western, developed cultures, has resulted in a change in the way that children
are viewed. They are regarded as individuals and are given a voice in a way in
which they have not been in the past. We have a much stronger sense of them as
individuals and feel
a duty to protect them. The upside of this is that children are listened
to and abuse is much less likely to be tolerated. Before the sixties it was
considered perfectly acceptable to beat children quite severely for the least
misdemeanour and sexual abuse was very rarely discovered because it was taboo.
The downside of the dissolution of the boundaries between children and adults
is that
children have much less of a childhood and become subject to the woes
and excitement of adult life at a much earlier age. Even the boundaries between
ourselves and animals have become much less defined. Genetics has informed us
that the difference between ourselves and the great apes is a matter of a few
percent of our DNA, and we identify with the great apes and with the cetaceans
in a way that no developed society has before. Genetic engineering has meant
that the DNA of one creature can be inserted into that of another without
regard to species, or even natural kingdom.
Transgenic animals, ecology, The Consequences of the Electronic Age
The Dissolution of Boundaries
The particular effect of man’s extension by electronics, which McLuhan
called the extension of the nervous system of man, is to bring about an almost
complete destruction of the concept of distance in both space and time.
Electronic communication moves at the speed of light. Electronic communication
is instantaneous. Sender, receiver and all the people and places in between
become a single unified point in space and time. Even outside the virtual
world, the aeroplane rolls up the road as it leaves the runway, and airports
half way around the world become connected directly to each other, all the
countries, towns and peoples in between simply vanish. Boundaries disappear,
they are of absolutely no consequence to electronic communication or to
aeroplanes.
The result of this is that the world becomes the Global Village. The
scope of an individual’s interaction with others has moved from family, to
tribe and village, to town, to state and now encompasses the whole world. Our
actions can affect others wherever they might be and we cannot but be affected
by the actions of others.
Censorship becomes impossible as information available anywhere becomes
available everywhere.
Ecology and Our View of the Planet
The lack of boundaries has resulted in local activities having global
effects.
This is most apparent in our understanding of ecology and the
environment. In the Industrial Age nature was acknowledged as an all powerful
force. Nature could be viewed with an almost religious awe as it was by the
Romantic Movement or it could be seen, as through the myth of the Pioneer
Spirit, as a malevolent force against which a continual war must be waged, a
war that was noble even if it would never be won. In the early sixties this
view was completely shattered by an understanding of the effects of pesticides
(organochlorines) on the natural world. DDT was
developed with great urgency and widely used through the Second World War to
kill the mosquitoes that made malaria such a threat to the troops in tropical
theatres of war. In the years immediately following the war stockpiles were
turned to domestic and horticultural use.