The Prevention of Epidemic Leptospirosis in Cuba
A historical and inspiring event took place 10-12 December 2008 in Havana Cuba that I had the honor to attend. There, the Carlos J. Finlay Institute under the guidance of its director-general, Dra. Conception Campa Huergo and Dr. Gustavo Bravo and others hosted NOSODES 2008, an international meeting on homeoprophylaxis, homeopathic immunization and nosodes against epidemics.
Homeopaths from Cuba, South America, Canada, Australia, UK, and Kenya (yours truly) made presentations on the wide varieties of successful disease prevention using homeopathy and more specifically, nosodes.
Each presentation was more amazing than the previous one. All were remarkable and notable in the field of research and science. Some of the presentations included Childhood Disease Prevention, Homeopathic Prophylaxis as an Aspect of Governmental Programs, Nosodes, Genus Epidemicus and Complexes, Homeoprophylaxis on Agronomy, Homeoprophylaxis in Veterinary, Homeoprophylaxis in TB, Homeoprophylaxis in Chagas disease (Homeopathy Treatment for Chagas Disease), Homeoprophylaxis in hepatitis, Homeoprophylaxis in Malaria (yours truly, again) and the list of presentations goes on.
(I am sorry for my lack of variety of adjectives for this email – “remarkable”, “awesome” and “amazing” will be repeated often because I have no other way to express my opinion of this conference.)
Some of the speakers (known to our English speaking homeopaths) were Martine Jourde, Issac Golden (Aus), Kate Birch (Canada), Tony Pincus (Ainsworth, UK), Leo Van Gelder (NL) & Lindsay Hickey (UK). A number of Cuban & South American homeopaths also presented their work. All have done unique work in the field of homeopathy & epidemic disease.
The Prevention of Epidemic Leptospirosis in Cuba
None of these remarkable speakers, each presenting their amazing work in disease prevention and use of nosodes, could hold a candle to the historical accomplishment of the Cubans in their presentation of controlling the local endemic-epidemic disease of Leptospirosis.
The Finlay Institute is primarily the Cuban research institute that produces allopathic vaccinations for their country. Because Cuba is embargoed by the United States, they have come to depend on themselves for the making of medicines, health care programs, etc. Since Cuba is not under the yoke of the international pharmaceutical juggernaut, they are not held back from wholeheartedly incorporating homeopathy and other alternative medicines into their national health programs. The Finlay director-general herself is very pro-homeopathy (not to mention, besides, a macrobiotic vegetarian).
To put it simply, what they presented is this:
Cuba goes through a yearly cycle of a Leptospirosis epidemic, especially after the hurricanes flood the countryside and water pollution reaches its height. Leptospirosis, an infectious disease caused by the spirochete Leptospira, is transmitted to humans from rats and causes jaundice, kidney damage and ultimately can be fatal.
Until Aug 2007, the Finlay Institute (a part of the Ministry of Public Health, Cuba) has been distributing its own allopathic Leptospirosis vaccination. August is the height of the hurricane season. Annually, when many are left homeless, flooded out and under the stress of a disaster situation, there is a sharp rise in the epidemic.
The usual infection rate, even with allopathic vaccination is around a few thousand, with some deaths included. Part of the reason for this is that the high cost of vaccination prevents vaccinating all but the most at-risk populations (ie. children, pregnant women, elderly). The cost of such limited vaccination is about US $3,000,000.
But in Aug 2007, Finlay put approximately 2,000,000 people (yes! 2 million!) in two provinces on a prophylactic homoepathic nosode, at the cost of about only US$ 200,000.
That figure represents the entire population of the 2 provinces. The prophylaxis consisted of 2 single doses about 2 weeks apart. Included in the dose was the Leptospirosis nosode plus some Bach flower remedies to address the mental distress of the disaster situation.
How very amazing it was to watch this presentation being made. Up to that point, the presenters were showing us graph after graph of the usual rise of the epidemic, year after year, even with the use of allopathic vaccination. Each year the graphs would edge higher and higher towards the year-end, reaching up to thousands of infected.
This time, within 2 weeks after Aug 2007, the rising lines literally dropped off the chart to ZERO. Ten infections only! Yes. Near-zero infections, zero deaths from Leptospirosis after Aug 2007. In 2008, there were no deaths and infections ran at less than 10 a month.
History Made for Homeopathy
This mass treatment of 2 million people with homeopathy, I don’t believe, has not been done anywhere else in the world, not even India, where homeopathy enjoys the shelter of the government.
The awesome results of going from hundreds of infected to near-zero in the period of a few weeks, also is historical. My jaw dropped as I watched the graphs demonstrate this success.
The Cuban team readily admits that they have not invented anything new as far as homeopathic philosophy or application. They have simply followed what we homeopaths know to work. Since they have no pharmaceutical multi-nationals to stop them, they were able to do it on a massive scale, unknown in the history of homeopathy.
What is remarkable is their application to such a large population and its dramatic success, with full scientific verification. The results are incontrovertible and undeniable, even by the most rabid of anti-homeopaths.
I’m eagerly awaiting the formal publication in the medical journals of this remarkable event. I’m sure once these results are published, homeopaths will have more “weapons” in our “arsenal” to fight for our existence and for the adoption of homeopathy in national health programs of industrialized and developing countries.
Let me say a word or two about Dra Heurgo, Dr. Bravo and the rest of the Cuban team. They are truly remarkable people. “Concita” as Dra Heurgo is lovingly known by the people of Cuba, is well known and loved as a woman who has done outstanding work to improve the health of the population. I found her to be someone with untiring energy, passionate about her work and compassionate in her motivation to serve her fellow human beings.
I should like to nominate her for the Nobel Prize.
Sincerely,
Didi Ananda Ruchira
Director, Abha Light
