Leptospirosis is an infectious disease caused by the spirochaete Leptospira, which is transmitted to humans from the infected urine of rats. Once affected, a patient may develop high fever, chills, severe headache, muscle pains, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, jaundice, redness of eyes and rash. Complications include kidney damage, meningitis, liver failure and respiratory illness.
Cuba goes through a yearly cycle of Leptospirosis epidemic, especially after the hurricanes flood the countryside and water pollution reaches its height. Many people are left homeless, flooded out and under the stress of a disaster situation.
Cuba, being considered an outcast by the USA, has had to become self-reliant in terms of production of medicines, health care programmes, etc. This is advantageous because research is no longer hampered by the all-powerful lobby of pharmaceutical companies and hence, Cuba has been able to search for the most effective and inexpensive ways of dealing with widespread health problems.
Until 2007, the Finlay Institute distributed its own allopathic vaccine against leptospirosis; however, the yearly high incidence of the disease, almost to epidemic proportions continued.
In October-November 2007, three provinces of the eastern region of Cuba were affected by heavy rainfalls causing flooding of big areas and damage to sanitary and health systems. The risk of leptospirosis infection reached extremely high levels with about 2 million people exposed to potentially contaminated water. This time, not having enough vaccine stock to vaccinate all the at-risk population, the Finlay Institute prepared a homoeopathic remedy to be used as a preventive – leptospirosis nosode 200 CH, using 4 circulating strains. Coordination with the public health infrastructure allowed the administration of 2 doses of the nosode, at 9 days’ interval, to about 2.4 million people. About 92% of the total population from the at-risk areas were administered the doses. Another dose in the 10M potency was given after hurricane Ike hit the island. This programme cost US $200,000, much less than what the cost of the regular vaccine would have been which was around US $3,000,000.
Even after the allopathic vaccination, the usual expectancy of infection is several thousand, including some deaths. Careful research conducted showed that after the homeopathic prophylaxis the incidence of leptospirosis dropped to almost zero, just 10 cases were reported and no deaths occured even after three major hurricane hits. The rest of the country which had not received the homeopathic prophylaxis, showed the expected incidence of leptospirosis.
This application of homoeopathy in such a large population with such dramatic results and scientifically documented as it has been, is tremendously encouraging and shows how homoeopathy can be used effectively, cheaply and within an existing health care structure, if the administration really wants to achieve good health without any financial influence.
Sources and references:
http://www.homeopathyeurope.org/news-and-press/news/stunning-cuban-experiences-on-leptospirosis
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/197128.php
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Homeopathy+prevents+Leptospira+epidemic.-a0231544963
Journal Spectrum of Homeopathy, No. 1, 2010. Narayana Publishers.