Homeopathy and AIDS in Africa
by Richard Pitt
Overview and Some Questions:
The treatment of HIV/AIDS can bring up certain challenges, given the complexity of the disease, the mysteriousness of the virus’ activity in the organism and the variety of conditions that come under the AIDS umbrella. AIDS is an immune condition, a syndrome that due to the immune suppressive effect of the retrovirus that causes AIDS, leads to a variety of immune deficiency conditions. It is not just one disease with a clear set of symptoms and which conforms to basic medical epidemiology. Ever since AIDS first exploded onto the USA, Europe, Africa and elsewhere, it has not behaved like any disease before it, initially creating huge problems and controversies in its diagnosis and treatment.
Some homeopaths may be familiar with the medical and political controversy over AIDS. Some scientists believe that HIV doesn’t exist and if it does, it doesn’t cause AIDS. Some believe it is likely a co-factor and only becomes active when other immune-suppressive influences are active while the mainstream medical community believe that the virus is the cause of the ‘syndrome’ that is called HIV/AIDS. However, the fact of their being such a long and ongoing controversy and the unique and unusual manifestation of symptoms now classified as AIDS justifies some caution in accepting the mainstream conclusion.
We have also seen two very different forms of the disease, with the condition in the west producing very different symptoms and diseases than mostly seen in Africa. When the first AIDS cases were seen in the USA and Europe, the most commonly affected people were the gay population, intra-venous drug users and their offspring, hemophiliacs and others who needed blood transfusions. The main conditions identified as part of an AIDS diagnosis were Kaposi’s sarcomas (a previously rare and fairly benign skin cancer seen in Africa), Pneumocystis carinii Pneumonia (a protozoa infection in the lungs and spreading throughout the body), Cryptococcal meningitis, chronic inflammation and swelling of the lymphatic system, systemic cytomegaly virus (a herpes based virus) and other bacterial, viral and fungal infections throughout the body, often with people having chronic diarrhea. People died without doctors knowing what to do and without effective drug treatment. Some people in the Haitian community in New York were also affected, showing symptoms of Toxoplasmosis, Pneumocystis and also disseminating Tuberculosis.
In Africa, although there were some initial cases of Kaposi’s sarcoma and Pneumocystis, one of the most common and visible conditions 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, one of the strongest connections has apparently been the increase in serious malaria and especially Tuberculosis. According to the Karonga Study, a large research program in Northern Malawi that focuses on the link between Tuberculosis and AIDS, up to 60% of T.B. cases are HIV positive. In a homeopathic project in Swaziland, 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 T.B. treatment. There is a growing problem with Multiple Drug Resistant T.B. and many don’t survive the drug regime. ARV’s are more available and keeping more people alive than before. In another project in Tanzania, 30-40% have T.B. 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.
Therefore, as the epidemic 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, Kaposi’s sarcoma is not seen very much, but T.B. and other chronic chest conditions are very common. Malaria is still seen very frequently, some which may be attributable to HIV infection and other general immune problems. Malnutrition is a major issue and discussed below and chronic diarrhea is commonly seen in HIV patients, along with shingles and chronic lymph swellings.
One of the most significant factors in assessing AIDS in Africa is the connection between HIV and malaria and T.B. Since the connection was made between HIV and these diseases, it has greatly increased the numbers of HIV/AIDS cases, changing the statistical impact of the disease. However, one of the big questions is whether HIV is causing more T.B. and malaria or whether having T.B. and malaria is leading to more HIV positive diagnoses. In other words, having these diseases may make it more likely that a person will test positive as the virus needs a susceptible terrain to become active. Also, it has been thought by some AIDS theorists that having T.B. or recurrent malaria may induce a false positive HIV test, leading to enhanced HIV positive figures and a false conclusion about the cause of T.B. and malaria. (1)
False-positive HIV tests
The possibility of false-positive HIV tests has been discussed widely in AIDS circles, especially those that critique some of the conventional strategies of AIDS. The use of Rapid HIV tests (Determine and Unigold being two common ones) that use a two band method, as opposed to three and four band tests used mainly in Western countries, has led to conclusions that these tests are much more likely to produce a false positive diagnosis, especially in Africa, where existing conditions like malaria, T.B. and other infectious diseases, including the leprosy bacteria and even including just being pregnant is more likely to lead to a HIV positive diagnosis.
The issue of pregnancy and HIV positive diagnosis is particularly significant. Most pregnant women are now tested for HIV. If the fact of being pregnant can lead to a false positive diagnosis, millions of women will be put on ARV’s unnecessarily, some for life. Malawi recently instituted a ‘voluntary’ policy to give all HIV positive pregnant women ARV’s for life, even if they are healthy. This is being done to see if some form of firewall can be found to address mother to child contagion. But if the tests are not accurate, then it is a tragic policy and right now it is totally experimental.
The impact of Stigma in Africa
One other factor to consider, apart from a looming question of false positive HIV tests is the impact of the stigma attached to being diagnosed positive. This has been a major issue throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. It can be speculated that just the impact of being told you are positive with a potentially life-threatening disease is enough to profoundly suppress the immune system. One Dr who I spoke to who has worked in the AIDS field both in Africa and Central America said that the characteristic response of African people is to be a victim whereas in Central America, it is to fight it. The nature of the reaction to the trauma of such a diagnosis is highly significant. Imagine what it would be like to be diagnosed positive and the impact it would have on one’s husband/wife, family, tribe and community, who now see you as a threat to their own survival? Your very position and role in society is challenged and to be isolated from your community is a virtual death sentence. So, although knowing one’s HIV status may serve the greater good in terms of containing possible further contagion, the impact on those stigmatized by the diagnosis is potentially huge.
In parts of Africa, HIV/AIDS education has greatly reduced the stigma but in many areas it is still very alive. For example, the difference between Western Kenya, in the Kisumu region, where education has had a positive effect and where most families have at least one member who may be positive is very different than in the coastal region around Mombasa, where due to social factors and perhaps the influence of Islam, there is still much more stigma and secrecy attached to the diagnosis. Every country and region has had a different rate of success in de-stigmatizing an HIV positive diagnosis but the overall impact of the diagnosis alone may be a cause of suppressing the immune system of people, and contributing to the cycle of AIDS symptoms.
The other factor with AIDS in Africa is the amount of money being spent on it and how that is impacting the whole continent. Billions of dollars are being spent now on Africa on drug and education programs (which includes malaria and T.B.), through U.N organizations, other NGO’s and many government organizations like USAID. It is by far the largest peace time operation in the world, involving millions of people. (2)The organizational impact is staggering and the big question is the impact it is having and whether the amount of money being spent justified. Could the money be better spent on food security issues and other factors that deplete peoples’ immunities which make them more susceptible to HIV? One of the big changes has been access to ARV’s, since 2004-2005, which has changed the face of the disease. Due to intense pressure on drug companies from the United States and Europe, including the availability of generic options, the prices of AIDS drugs have drastically been reduced. Many people have benefitted from the drugs but also many people have suffered serious side effects. As with all medicines, the benefits have to be weighed against the side effects and for those that really need ARV’s they have been a life saver. But for many the side effects have been extreme and the trials of Niviriprine in Uganda in 2005 showed serious levels of toxicity. (3)
However, perhaps they are now being given too much and if it is true that there are many false positives in the rapid HIV tests, then many people are going to be given the drugs when they don’t need them. It has been shown also that many HIV negative people in Africa have much lower CD4 counts as a consequence of many other factors, and not HIV, but that is one of the main other criteria for justifying the drugs. (4)
Therefore, we now have a drug miasm on top of the disease state, adding another dimension to the disease. This is discussed below in assessing the miasmatic nature of AIDS. The financial politics of AIDS money is also having a huge impact. All those involved, including African governments and NGO’s are benefitting from the funding and so have their own investment to continuing present strategies.
Statistics of AIDS numbers have been religiously published for years, with dramatic numbers of the percentages of a country’s population that is infected. At one point, Uganda was above 20%, and Botswana even thought to be 40%. Malawi is thought to have around 15% but it has to be remembered that these are only statistical probabilities and are likely highly exaggerated, done to maintain the focus on the disease and its funding. This led one well-known South Africa journalist to question just where are all the people dying in South Africa (5). Therefore, even the homeopathic projects that are focusing on treating HIV/AIDS need to be careful when stating any figures of the numbers of AIDS cases in Africa. The fact is that the numbers of AIDS cases are now declining.
The Homeopathic Treatment of HIV/AIDS:
As with any other condition, homeopathy can help, whether a person is simply HIV positive or shows symptoms of AIDS. As homeopathy simply helps the body’s immune system and AIDS is an immune deficiency, it is logical that a therapy like homeopathy would be effective. It is therefore surprising - or maybe not given the political dynamics around AIDS – that such criticism has been leveled at any natural therapy that purports to help HIV/AIDS. However, it has been shown that simple improvement in nutrition and increasing vitamins enhances the immune system enough to really help in many cases. Therefore anything that helps the body will help address the impact of the virus.
Also, it needs to be stated that being HIV positive does not mean people will get AIDS. This common assumption has been repeated for so long that it is taken as the truth, whereas it has always been the case that some people who are positive will not develop the disease. Other factors such as overall immune function, history of STI’s, drug history, blood transfusion history are very important, and in Africa, the nutritional habits, the history of malaria and other diseases etc., can all predispose people to develop symptoms. It has never been the case that simply being positive = AIDS.
It seems also that in Africa the disease has peaked. The turning point seems to have been around 2000-2001 in most parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, using figures from Uganda and Lake Victoria region which is where the disease first took serious root. Only in Southern Africa have cases continued to increase in the first decade. However, the introduction of ARV’s which only began seriously in 2004-2005 may also have had an effect and there is no doubt that they work in serious cases of AIDS. However, the significance of their effect may be questioned. Similar to what happened in the west, the most vulnerable were initially affected and then the disease has gradually declined, partly through preventative measures, partly through medication and partly through then natural cycle of the disease. In Africa, given the wider susceptibility of the population, the disease spread more widely, but even here, the disease is declining. But what we may now see is a new variety of the disease based on the use of ARV’s and their side effects.
When people in Africa are given ARV’s they are also given Septrin to prevent opportunistic infections. The drugs are given for life, based on the idea that stopping them may develop drug resistance. However, it is simply not known what the impact will be in 10-20-30 years time when people are still on the drugs. We don’t know and it is really an experiment. What I predict will happen is that in 10 years time or so, ‘new’ evidence will emerge that the drugs don’t need to be taken for ever and that if a person remains fairly symptom free for a number of years, and even if positive is not getting sick, then stopping ARV’s will be the best course of action, as its more risky to continue them and suppress the immune system further, than it is to stop them and give the immune system a break and an opportunity to do work for itself.
In understanding the possible impact of homeopathy in treating HIV/AIDS, a few considerations need mentioning:
A majority of HIV/AIDS cases are now on ARV’s and therefore treatment has to encompass the side-effects of these drugs.
It is not clear that all people declared positive are actually so. The HIV tests in Africa are two band rapid tests (Determine and Unigold) and one of the main issues is how precise these tests are. It is very likely that quite a large percentage of people who test positive may not actually be, as a recent history of diseases such as malaria, diarrhea and other fungal, bacterial and viral infections, naturally occurring antibodies, flu, flu vaccination. TB., renal failure, hepatitis, organ transplant, hemophilia, tetanus vaccine, leprosy, alcoholic liver disease and blood transfusions. Those diseases or other factors may predispose a person to test positive using the two band tests. In the West the tests used are three or four band tests.
A CD4 measure does not totally confirm the diagnosis as in Africa. It has been found that HIV negative people routinely score much lower in CD4 measures, even below the 350 cut off mark for giving ARVs to HIV positive people. Therefore any analysis of the effect of homeopathy is somewhat skewed by these facts.
The nature of AIDS is that people get other diseases as a consequence of infection. There is no one particular infection, which would be the normal course of affairs with most infectious diseases. It is therefore somewhat harder to exactly evaluate the action of a remedy and other possible effects. There are many factors that could be involved making the type of analysis needed for homeopathy more difficult.
Any treatment that enhances the immune system will lead to the body being able to address the disease more effectively. Therefore it may be harder to find particular remedies, e.g., genus epidemicus types of treatment to address the disease. Many remedies could potentially be useful, as could nutrition (6) and simply the lack of stigma when diagnosed positive. If people, especially in Africa have the fear and stigma removed, it is like removing a hex. (One of the unfortunate side effects of all the money and education has been the identity of being positive. No doubt it can be good to know if by being positive, one could pass it on to others, but the sheer number of people now living with the knowledge of being positive is itself a serious concern. It is potentially stigmatizing millions of people for the whole of their lives. Millions more people are now being tested than before. While for some that may be effective in helping evaluate appropriate treatment, for others, especially if otherwise healthy, a positive HIV diagnosis may not help them. Yes, it’s good to know so one doesn’t spread the disease, but to carry the burden of the diagnosis is a heavy one).
Placebo action of homeopathic remedies may be very high. The power of ‘white man’s medicine’ and the hope that gives to many in Africa can make evaluating the efficacy of particular remedies or resonances hard to validate, not to mention the usual logistics of doing serious follow-up research in Africa.
In Africa now, most of the work going into AIDS is in Tanzania with Jeremy and Camilla Sherr, with Scholten’s trial and clinical use (I don’t know where it is going from here), in Barbara Braun’s clinic in Swaziland and in the work of Peter Chappell and Harry van der Zee, using PC resonances. The use of PC resonances has brought up some interesting questions in regards to the treatment of HIV/AIDS, not to mention other conditions, such as War Trauma, Rape, Genocide and a slew of other conditions seen in Africa. Its methodology has made it open to criticism, both within and outside the homeopathic community, but given its apparent amazing results, it needs exploring to reveal how well it can really work. A PC resonance was first made by Peter Chappell when he was in Ethiopia, treating AIDS cases, many of which were severe, and he found himself limited by conventional homeopathic methodology. This led him to conduct an experiment. He had in previous years been able to contact a form of non-human ‘intelligence’, through meditation or simply ‘tuning in’, but didn’t know what to do with this. This intelligence could be similar to other therapies where individuals act as a conduit between a patient and some form of divine healing energy. But here Peter simply asked this intelligence to make a resonance or vibration that matched the exact complete picture of HIV/AIDS, including ARV side effects, mental and emotional issues associated with the disease and all the complex physical symptoms seen. What he was trying to do was create a ‘universal genus epidemicus’ for HIV/AIDS, something that could be given to all cases, irrespective of individual differences.
He states that in Ethiopia, he saw dramatic changes and very sick people, even those with ‘Slim’, the wasting disease, were getting better, had a will to live again, began to eat, put on weight and recovered. Impressive stuff. This led him and later 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. Harry was very impressed when he first saw a dramatic change from PC1 (West) in a gay HIV+ patient who changed from 'nobody will ever love me' to 'I'm so full of love, I love everyone'. He experienced a profound transformation from a deeply depressed and alienated forsaken state to one of love and appreciation. That to Harry showed the connection of AIDS with love and that PC1 was apparently not only treating the symptoms but touching the core. This deeply influenced Harry and led him to explore PC remedies much more. The results of this work over the last ten years has been written in two books – The Second Simillimum and Homeopathy for Diseases, the latter just recently published.
I have had experience with PC remedies, specifically PC1 and a few others, in Malawi and Kenya. PC1 also includes complications of malaria and T.B., which are identified as part of the AIDS profile. However, in particular cases of bad malaria or T.B. without being HIV positive then PC malaria and PC T.B. can be given. Other homeopathic remedies could be given later, for other conditions or if some other complications are seen. Overall the majority of cases react very favorable to PC1. A few very serious cases didn’t respond, but enough worked well to feel convinced of their action. However, it has been in Kenya that I have seen the most dramatic results with the use of PC1. The resonance has been distributed by a local pastor in Kisumu to many HIV/AIDS support groups, which are very active in the region. He has visited many of them and talked to people about the new ‘immune booster’, as he calls them. At the regular meetings of the group, people were given the PC1, in a water bottle, with a little alcohol added for preservation, and told to take 1 tsp daily, each time pounding the bottle hard 5 times. They are to do this for one month and then report back to the support group. I visited a number of these groups and was amazed by the change experienced. Many people had a dramatic change, including from effects of ARV’s. Energy and appetite improved, weight was gained, less neuropathy, better attitude, less infections, less malaria etc; across the board improvements including raised CD4 counts. One of the groups is in a government health clinic so there has been the opportunity to do new CD4 counts and to follow through closely with them. Therefore the changes have been quite dramatic and each group I would visit, people would stand and give testimony to the whole group, making quite an impression to everybody. So the enthusiasm for the treatment has been very positive. It also confirms Harry’s observation that PC1 seems to be addressing a core theme around the condition of AIDS, including the will to live and to be accepted as you are, not just working on a symptom level.
Of course, being a natural skeptic – sorry to use that word given its affinity for crazy anti-homeopathy zealots - I wondered what was happening and whether it was another form of placebo, the power of the word again, white man’s (mzungu) medicine, and people’s belief and desire to believe being why they felt better, compounded by other testimonies in the group. But it is hard to put it all down to simple placebo. It seems just too much and too consistent but still cannot be totally dismissed - and it seems to be lasting. One of the issues with placebo is that usually it doesn’t last, as Scholten wrote in his review of the remedy Iquilae. All people are told to continue ARV’s if they are on them or on Septrin if that is what they are taking. Side effects are part of the syndrome and therefore mostly dealt with.
The rationale for PC therapy is that it works and it can reach far more people than conventional homeopathy, given the lack of homeopaths, and lack of remedies available etc. This is a powerful argument when seeing the numbers of people affected. I was quite shocked visiting so many groups and the numbers of people in them. Normal folk, young, old, kids, looking quite OK most of the time. As I mentioned earlier, maybe many of the most vulnerable have already been affected and have died, whereas now, many positive people are able to live OK. Perhaps partly because of the ARV’s, partly because of education and being “positive about being positive”, as the saying goes, and partly because some of them are either not really positive or even if they are, have quite good immune systems so they can cope. After all, the tests only show an immune response has taken place, not whether the virus is still active now, an easily forgotten fact and also perhaps another factor why homeopathic remedies and PC resonances are working. Although some cases are very serious many people are generally Ok and as long as other immune-suppressive factors are not too active, they will remain healthy.
Also, the huge increase in testing is naturally going to find more people positive, adding to the positive numbers. Therefore the numbers swell and the need to address the situation still grows.
Another rationale for PC resonances is that if they are given early enough to the groups, it can help prevent some people going on ARV’s. If a person’s immune system can be improved, their CD4 levels increased and their state of mental and emotional well being improved, plus destigmatizing the disease and giving people hope that being positive does not mean they will get sick, then the PC therapy is being effective. Preventing the need to go onto ARV’s is a significant thing to achieve, as right now, once given, they are for life and that is quite a long time!
AIDS and its Miasmatic Identity:
In homeopathic theory, especially in looking at the miasmatic aspect of the disease, the AIDS miasm has been postulated to be a miasm in its own right, following on from the big five miasms of Psora, Sycosis, Syphilis, Tuberculosis and Cancer. The overall qualities of the AIDS miasm can be said to be a breaking down of boundaries, which have been seen on a broader social level with the advent of the digital age and the influence of the internet, breaking through all previous communication barriers; also on a political level with the influence of global capital, breaking down national boundaries and a greater realization of the interconnectedness of all business and capital. On a physical level, we see with the disease AIDS, a breaking down of the body, a retroviral interloper infecting T cells in the body, destroying them and allowing a variety of infectious diseases take hold of the body. We even see the possibility that AIDS could have come in some way from viruses from monkeys (SIV as opposed to HIV) or from other animals, another form of breaking down boundaries. In the public consciousness, there is no doubt that AIDS has become the most dominant disease in modern history, along with cancer, even though malaria kills many more people than AIDS. In the West, in spite of the terrible impact it has had on various communities, it never spread widely into mainstream society, different to what has been seen in Africa.
Other people connect AIDS to the Syphilitic miasm, seeing AIDS as a result of suppressed syphilis and other STD’s. There is no doubt that a history of STD’s was a precursor for many who got AIDS, whether in the West and also in Africa, and the nature of the destructiveness of the disease shows clear syphilitic qualities. Also, similar to syphilis, after an initial intense and violent expression, the disease seems to be dropping off. 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. 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.
In Africa it has been theorized by Sherr that AIDS is a combination of the psoric and the radiation miasm. 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. 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. In particular 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. It may therefore be seen that the radioactive remedies like California muriaticum and nitricum 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 – including 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 contamination of humans with a simian virus (SIV). The nature of this contamination may add to the radioactive theory, as it is distinctly possible the virus was spread through contaminated vaccines (polio and maybe smallpox), as opposed to the conventional theory of Africans eating contaminated bush meat. (7) 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 plutonic forces 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 has used to treat AIDS is Causticum, Zincum, China, Germanium, Magnesium salts, Olive, Natrum muriaticum, Sulphur, Psorinum, which he sees as mainly psoric influence; Ozone and Kali carbonicum in psora/tubercular; Adamas, Bacilinum, Tuberculinum and Salmon in more Tubercular cases; AIDS nosode, Cryptococcus and California muriaticum and nitricum in the Radioactive miasm; and Mercury, Flouric acid, Plumbum and Arsenicum album in the syphilitic miasm.
In both the West and Africa, AIDS has many faces and right now many people are now living OK being HIV positive. The stigma is less due to education (in some places) and people are living longer, partly due to ARV’s and partly due to the fact that many of the more susceptible people have already died and the disease has moved beyond its acute phase. One of the more serious issues now is whether the lack of preciseness of the tests, plus the hugely increased number of people being tested, is leading to more positive diagnoses and therefore much more ARV’s being used, when they simply are not needed in relatively healthy people who none the less may show a low CD4 count. It is therefore in these cases, and when the ARV’s are not working leading to severe side effects that the radioactive remedies may be working.
It can be argued that Africans are now on the receiving end of an industry that is now interested in pushing as many ARV’s as possible. Could it be that the huge AIDS industry – $45 billion dollars promised through PEPFAR – (the US President’s AIDS fund) is leading to the overuse of ARV’s, even when not needed. This is not to say that ARV’s are not working. Evidence shows that they are having an impact, but now the main crisis has passed, yet the juggernaut of the AIDS industry is in full motion, finding more and more people to give drugs too, whether they need them or not? In Malawi, where I was living, the local hospital would quite often run out of nearly all medicines, including malaria medicines, but never run out of ARV’s. Therefore, one theory around the use of radioactive remedies is that it is addressing the impact of questionable policies of the West and the abuse of powerful drugs, which are given for life, or at least for the foreseeable future. In other cases, where ARV’s are not given and people are simply HIV positive, many other remedies may obviously be needed.
However, mentioning ideas of the radioactive miasm (if it really exists as a miasmatic categorization) adds a speculative aspect to understanding AIDS as most cases can be explained within traditional miasmatic theory, with the psoric, tubercular and syphilitic miasms covering most cases.
Jan Scholten has also done some research into the homeopathic treatment of HIV/AIDS by doing clinical research into a remedy called Iquilae, which is a combination remedy of various lanthanides remedies (Thullium?). The only material I have read on it is does not reveal specifically what is in it. It can be found at 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 Karnofskys score. So far, the results 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. 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.
The tubercular miasm also figures strongly in a miasmatic evaluation of AIDS. In the gay population in Europe and United States, 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 the extraordinary sexual behavior amongst other things, 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, without which one cannot Syphilis, to T.B. and Cancer etc. Therefore all further miasms, apart from the main three are combinations of the main three.
Another aspect of the influence of the tubercular miasm is that one of the strongest conditions of AIDS is Pneumocystitis Carinii Pneumonia (PCP), 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 T.B. Some of the Haitians who got AIDS were also afflicted with T.B. In Africa, the connection between T.B. and AIDS is very strong, even if it can be questioned whether the HIV virus leads to more T.B. or T.B. leads to the activation of the virus in the system.
One of the alternative but widespread ideas of the virus is that it is more of a co-factor than a primary cause. In other words, the virus may be in the body but relatively dormant and only becomes activated by other infections and perhaps malnutrition, all leading to a compromised immune system. Not everybody who is infected will get sick. The fact that AIDS has spread more widely in Africa may be because there are basically more health issues, with diseases such as malaria and T.B. already taking a big toll, combined with malnutrition and other factors. Also today, a large percentage of active AIDS cases have T.B. that is the main symptom picture they present with. As already mentioned, maybe the HIV/AIDS diagnosis is merely incidental to an already existing T.B. case.
Another miasmatic view of AIDS is to classify it as its own miasm, reflecting a broader idea of miasmatic thinking, seeing a miasm as much as 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 (this can be questioned). 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 (this has not been seen so far).
Therefore, the unique susceptibility of Africa is due to the imposition of the dynamics of the Electronic Age (which can include the radiation/nuclear component) onto a culture like Africa which is identified with tribal and feudal culture, 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, T.B. 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. Given the theories of how CJD came into being and spread, it shows similar patterns to AIDS cases – cows being fed ground up cow which creates prions that infect the brain. 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 virus.
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 likely 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 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.
Peter Chappell and Harry van der Zee 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 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’.
The Politics of treating AIDS:
Whether the use of PC’s, especially in Africa, diminishes the legitimacy of homeopathy is an open question. No doubt it opens up homeopathy – by default identified with PC resonances – to more criticism from skeptics, who being already outraged at the audacity of homeopaths to believe homeopathy could do anything for HIV/AIDS, would only be further full of indignation at the idea of such a radical therapy being applied. Fortunately, most in Africa are more trusting and willing to give it a go. People in support groups are happy to get their ‘immune booster’, and even in more formal government circles have been willing to embrace the idea. Personally I have found it hard to explain and find myself feeling a bit awkward talking about it. It is hard enough talking about normal homeopathy, let alone PC resonances and how they are made. However, evidence is evidence. It also hasn’t stopped Peter or Harry from being willing to spread the word and offer PC resonances to many people, and not just for HIV/AIDS. The use of PC malaria, PC T.B., PC diabetes and PC hypertension for example are already widely used.
Perhaps the main problem with PC resonances is in the challenge of establishing homeopathy in Africa as a legitimate form of medicine. There is work going on in a number of countries to help regulate and recognize homeopathy and it is not known how the use of PC resonances could influence this process. Also teaching homeopathy students about this method may deter people going to the trouble to learn classical methodology and may not be good to mix in with regular homeopathy. On the other hand, PC resonances can be taught to non-medically trained people quite easily, making them more accessible to the general public and to HIV/AIDS support groups.
Also the work of Scholten and Sherr has opened homeopathy for attack from skeptics and activists within the AIDS community. AIDS has always been a political disease, perhaps reflecting the questions of how it began, with possible human involvement and the way it affected certain elements within western society and now in Africa, and also the extraordinary amounts of resources going to treating AIDS. Initially in the west, the disease was not taken seriously, as it primarily affected gays, drug users, and those needing blood transfusions. For many reasons, this led to a degree of denial of the seriousness of the disease but within a few years, it became much more seriously considered and since then, huge amounts of money and resources have been thrown at the disease, creating its own level of political complexity. Therefore, when alternative medicine practitioners start talking about treating AIDS, especially in Africa, this provokes a huge outcry and indignation from many involved with AIDS. There is ironically more concern about the possible harm to Africans taking homeopathy and possibly not doing conventional treatment, than there is over the possibility that too many people are being put on ARV’s with all the consequent side effects and also the lack of effectiveness of the HIV test itself. As said, huge amounts of money and reputations are now involved, so homeopaths need to be careful when making any claims on treating with homeopathy, not because it is not true, but simply because of the nature of the AIDS ‘industry’.
Also, there are still serious questions about how serious the epidemic really is in Africa and the political and financial stakes are high in portraying the epidemic as the biggest crisis for Africa. In fact malaria is more serious, and food security issues and general economic and political instability are major factors in most people’s lives. Therefore it can be argued that an over focus on treating AIDS may be buying into propaganda surrounding the disease. Maybe things aren’t quite as bad as people say but NGOs with a vested interest in maintaining funding, Big Pharma interested in pursuing profit and African governments interested in keeping the money coming are all contributing to the impression of the crisis. This is not to diminish the impact the disease has had but to question whether it is still as significant as being portrayed. For example, plans in Malawi are to strategize to get $1.4 billion for their AIDS policy, including putting 500,000 people on ARV’s. That is 1 in every 30 people in the country, the $1.4 billion being about one quarter of their total GDP! This is what I read in a national newspaper in Malawi in 2012!
In the work of Scholten, and for that matter, the use of PC remedies and Sherr’s work, if part of the attempt is to validate homeopathic treatment of AIDS and to do some form of research into the subject, the questions of a fairly high percentage of false positives may skew these results, leading to inaccurate evaluations of the methodology used. It will be virtually impossible to produce any significant statistical proof that homeopathy is effective as the nature of the disease is so elusive.
If the virus is a co-factor and not the simple cause, then saying we are treating AIDS when it could simply be T.B. and the iatrogenic consequences of drug resistance makes it harder to analyze what homeopathy is actually doing.
Conclusion:
Whatever the exact facts are on the ground, there is still much that can be done in treating HIV/AIDS and the political complexities should not deter homeopaths from making homeopathy available. Sholtens’ work may bring some level of clinical proof and statistical validity, as also can Braun’s work in Swaziland. Sherr’s work can also add to the proof of homeopathy and by applying a genus epidemicus approach contribute to the knowledge of homeopathy as well as its treatment of HIV/AIDS. Sherr’s attempt to give a miasmatic perspective paradigm to its treatment is interesting and will help us understand the disease from a cultural, political and social perspective, as well as finding particular remedies to fit.
AIDS is the disease of our generation. Having lived in San Francisco for 20 years, one of the epicenters of the disease in the early 1980s, and well documented in the book And The Band Plays On, by Randy Shilts, the trauma and devastation of the disease has moved on. Africa is now the front line and it is important to explore what homeopathy can do to help and to understand the disease from a homeopathic perspective.
References;
(1) See the movie The House of Numbers. Athough criticized by conventional AIDS researchers (see Wikipedia site), it provides an interesting critique on the accuracy and validity of AIDS tests
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.”
According the Project HEAL in Los Angeles, the following conditions can lead to false positive results - “naturally occurring antibodies, exposure to viral vaccine, flu, flu vaccination. TB. Renal failure, hepatitis, organ transplant, haemophillia, tetaus vaccine, leprosy, alcoholic liver disease, blood transfusion, malignant cancers, rheumatoid arthritis, herpes, Hepatitis B vaccine, etc.
(2) 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.
The article documents the extraordinary size and complexity of the global fight against AIDS.
(3) Out of Control: AIDS and the Corruption of Medical Science. Celia Farber. Published in Harpers Magazine, March 2006.
The article explores the flawed US government study of Nevirapine, beginning in 1997 (HIV net 012) in Kampala Uganda, and how despite damning reports of its methodology and conclusions was none the less given a license by the US government, even though the FDA didn’t approve it. However, President George W Bush visited the site in Kampala in July 2003 as part of the governments developing AIDS strategy and funding PEPFAR.
(4) The Karonga Study Crampin AC, Mwaungulu FD, Ambrose LR, Longwe H, French N. Normal range of CD4 cell counts and temporal changes in two HIV-negative Malawian populations. The Open AIDS journal 2011;5:74-9. 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.
(6) The Cochrane Collaboration The use of micronutrient supplements for HIV positive children and women.
Irlam JH, Visser MME, Rollins NN, Siegfried N. Micronutrient supplementation in children and adults with HIV infection. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2010, Issue 12. Art. No.: CD003650. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003650.pub3
Out of Control: AIDS and the corruption of Medical Science. Celia Farber
“A 1994 study, for example, that gave vitamin A to pregnant HIV-positive mothers in Malawi reported that those with the highest levels of Vitamin A transmitted HIV at a rate of only 7.2 percent. This is consistent with a vast body of research linking nutritional status to sero-conversion, as well as to general health. Another study on the efficacy of nevirapine in mother-to-child transmission was performed by researchers from Ghent University (Belgium) in Kenya and published in 2004.”
(7) The River: A Journey Back to the Source of HIV and AIDS by Edward Hooper. Published initially in 1999, this has caused much controversy and there has been serious attempts to curtail its publication and the distribution of a subsequent movie called The Origin of Aids.
It explores the possible link between polio vaccine campaigns in the 1950’s and 1960’s with the outbreak of AIDS. An article exploring this link was originally published in Rolling Stone magazine.
