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Schwabe News Volume 1 | Issue 1 | October 2010

Research news

Homoeoprophylaxis against Leptospirosis using a nosode: Large-scale application of highly-diluted bacteria for Leptospirosis epidemic control

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease of major importance in the tropics where the incidence peaks in rainy seasons. Natural disasters represent a big challenge to Leptospirosis prevention strategies especially in endemic regions. Vaccination is an effective option but of reduced effectiveness in emergency situations. Homoeoprophylactic interventions might help to control epidemics by using highly-diluted pathogens to induce protection in a short time scale. Researchers report the results of a very large-scale homoeoprophylaxis (HP) intervention against Leptospirosis in a dangerous epidemic situation in three provinces of Cuba in 2007. Forecast models were used to estimate possible trends of disease incidence. A homoeoprophylactic 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. After the homoeoprophylactic intervention a significant decrease of the disease incidence was observed in the intervention regions. No such modifications were observed in non-intervention regions. In the intervention region the incidence of Leptospirosis fell below the historic median. This observation was independent of rainfall. It clearly indicates that the homoeoprophylactic approach was associated with a large reduction of disease incidence and control of the epidemic. The results suggest the use of HP as a feasible tool for epidemic control.

Reference:

• Natalia Marzoa, Jorge Menéndez, Luis García et al., Large-scale application of highly-diluted bacteria for Leptospirosis epidemic control, Homeopathy, Volume 99, Issue 3, July 2010, Pages 156-166

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