Children, Vaccines, Homeopathy

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Children, Vaccines, Homeopathy

© Richard Moskowitz M.D.

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The refusal of significant numbers of parents to vaccinate their

children has created a sizable group of people needing very much to

be studied, and has raised a number of important public health

issues. Foremost among them is the fear that a large reservoir of

unvaccinated persons could contribute to epidemic outbreaks that

might involve vaccinated individuals as well. Equally pressing are

the immediate practical questions of how best to protect the

unvaccinated persons from disease, how to prevent such outbreaks

if possible, and how to treat them effectively if they do occur.

The long-term question which interests me the most is what the

general health of this unvaccinated group will be like, and what we

can deduce from this data concerning how vaccines really act.

 

I would like to begin by proposing that we use the terms vaccinated

and unvaccinated instead of immunized and unimmunized, since the

basis of the vaccination controversy is the belief of many parents

that the vaccines do not produce a true immunity', but rather act in

some other fashion--or, in my view, that they act

immunosuppressively.

 

This may sound like a purely semantic distinction, but in fact it

bears directly on the first question raised above. If the vaccines

conferred a true immunity, as the natural illnesses do, then the

unvaccinated people would pose a risk only to themselves. Children

recovering from the measles or polio or whooping cough need never

fear getting them again, no matter how often they are reexposed in

the future. So, the reports of large-scale pertussis outbreaks in

the United Kingdom since the vaccine was made optional seem to me a

convincing argument against vaccinating anybody, even those who

desire it, because if the vaccine produces authentic immunity,

then this rebound phenomenon should not occur.

 

Furthermore, we should be skeptical about the " outbreaks " that are

reported to have occurred. Pertussis, or " whooping cough, " is

actually rather difficult to diagnose conclusively, as it requires

special cultures or antibody tests that many laboratories cannot

perform and that many doctors, in the presence of suggestive

symptoms, rarely take the trouble to order. Conversely, there are

other cases of pertussis with typical signs and symptoms but

negative cultures and no detectable antibodies. In other words,

whooping cough as a clinical syndrome need not be associated with the

organism Bordetella pertussis, against which the vaccine is

prepared, or indeed with any microorganism whatsoever.

 

Reservoirs of people unvaccinated against measles, mumps, or

diphtheria, on the other hand, should result in periodic outbreaks

of these diseases. But again, authentic immunity, would insure that

only the unvaccinated would fall ill, which has never proved to be

the case. All known out breaks of these diseases in the post vaccine

era have included large numbers of vaccinated people as well; an. in

many instances a large majority of the cases had previously been

vaccinated, some of them quite recently.

 

The argument that parents should vaccinate their children to protect

society as a whole from epidemic does not make sense. Such epidemic

argue rather against vaccinating the ones who were vaccinated but

still came down with the disease as soon as they were exposed to it.

Likewise, if we accept partial or temporary immunity--conceding that

the vaccine are not that effective, but that we have no other

alternative to these rebound epidemics--then are we not simply

throwing good lives after bad, rather like acknowledging that our

patients are addicted to dangerous drugs yet fearing to withdraw

them or even withhold them from others, lest the original error

be fully or frankly exposed?

 

Which brings us to the second question, namely, how to protect your

unvaccinated child from an acute out break of one of these illnesses

in the vicinity. The first priority is clearly to know the illness--

its signs and symptoms, its natural history and vehicles of spread,

its prevention and treatment.

 

Rather than reading this information from a pediatrics text and the

passingit along to you, I suggest that you read up on these

diseases. Even more importantly, meet with your local pediatrician

or primary healthcare provider and plan a course of action. If you

cannot immediately find someone whom you can work with or relate to,

keep looking. Your local support system is too important to be left

for the time when you need to call on it in a hurry.

 

Taking responsibility for not vaccinating is no different from taking

responsibility for a homebirth or any other form of alternative

health care. It calls for not a substitute for conventional care,

but rather a different relationship to the healing process and the

health-care system, based on personal choice and direct

participation. We still need help when our children get sick, and we

need to know that this help is available to us.

 

In the event of an outbreak, a great deal can be done to minimize

the risk to those exposed and to treat those who actually fall ill--

much of which does not involve chemical drugs or vaccines of

questionable safety and effectiveness. The homeopathic method, one

such approach, uses minute doses of natural substances to stimulate

and enhance the natural defense mechanisms of the host. The

homeopathic prevention and treatment of specific acute diseases are

discussed in detail in the highly recommended book Homeopathy in

Epidemic Diseases, by Dr. Dorothy Shepherd, a prominent English

homeopath.'

 

The homeopathic approach to epidemic diseases in general was first

employed by Hahnemann in 1799, during an extensive scarlet fever

epidemic in the province of Saxony.2 After he had treated a dozen or

so cases in the usual homeopathic fashion, giving small doses of

remedies capable of producing similar illnesses experimentally,

Hahnemann realized that one remedy helped to cure at least 75

percent of the cases, a second remedy covered another 15 percent or

so, and the remaining 10 percent required a variety of different

remedies corresponding to the unique features of each case. The

principal remedy, which corresponded to the genus epidemicus (the

main characteristics of the outbreak as a whole), was then given out

prophylactically to people exposed to the disease, and also to

patients in the early stages of illness--before the critical point,

when other remedies would sometimes be needed, was reached.

 

The results were quite dramatic. Those so treated either did not get

sick at all or suffered much milder illnesses, on the whole, than

their compatriots who were not treated or who received the drugs and

other heroic measures in standard practice at the time. Hahnemann

became justly famous for this exploit; and since this time, his

method has been used with equal or greater success throughout the

world in treating numerous outbreaks of cholera, typhus, smallpox,

yellow fever, influenza, and other acute diseases of similar type.

Why it has not been more widely influential in this country is

a great mystery, and clearly has to do with the historic decline of

homeopathy as a thought form until the advent of the alternative

health and self-care movement of the past 10 years or so.

 

 

" The argument that parents should vaccinate their children to

protect society as a whole from epidemics does not make sense "

Pertussis " Whooping cough " can be quite a nasty and prolonged

illness, even in older children, in whom it is seldom fatal or

dangerous. It can certainly threaten life in young infants under one

year of age, because of the narrowness of the immature laryngeal

opening and its particular vulnerability to obstruction from any

inflammation or swelling. It is rarely serious in children older

than six; and adults, for some reason, rarely contract the

illness at all, even when they are exposed and have never had it

before.

 

The incubation period varies from one to two weeks; and the illness

often begins quite slowly, with some fever, typical upper

respiratory symptoms, and a cough that gradually becomes more and

more paroxysmal, until the characteristic spasms appear, often

terminating in vomiting or tenacious sputum ejected with great

violence. Such a cough may commonly persist for six weeks or even

longer, suggesting an autoallergic as well as an infectious origin.

 

The nosode Pertussin, prepared from the sputum of patients with this

disease, is the homeopathic remedy generally used for prophylaxis of

exposed children (Pertussin 30c, one dose daily for two weeks after

contact); and it can also be given in early stages of illness, at

four-hour intervals. Drosera is the remedy most often used for the

illness itself, although other remedies may also be needed. For

children with a well developed cough, Drosera 30c or Pertussin 30c

may be given every four hours, or even more often if necessary. A

physician should be consulted if the illness is severe.

 

Homeopathic remedies are available without prescription, but care

should be exercised to obtain them from a manufacturer belonging to

the American Association of Homeopathic Pharmacies. This way, you

will know that they have been prepared in accordance with the

standards of the U.S. Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia.

 

Diphtheria

Diphtheria is rarely seen today in developed countries, but small

outbreaks have occurred in the southwestern U.S. (San Antonio in

1977). The illness is primarily a poisoning attributable to the

toxin (a highly antigenic protein of high molecular weight)

elaborated by the diphtheria bacillus. Diphtheria toxin is the

source from which the standard vaccine is prepared (diphtheria

" toxoid " is the toxin denatured by heat, alum precipitated? and

preserved with an organomercury compound), and is also the source of

the homeopathic remedy, or nosode, Diphtherinum, which is commonly

used for prophylaxis and for treatment of complicated cases.

 

Diphtheria begins as a " cold " or sore throat after a very brief

incubation period of two or three days. The primary infection is

usually in the throat or nasopharynx, and quickly becomes apparent

with a greyish, ulcerating " pseudomembrane, " foul breath, high

fever, and marked swelling of the cervical Iymph nodes (producing

the classic " bull neck " in severe cases). Complications such as

heart or kidney failure or esophageal obstruction may follow within

a few days; and severe cases may be accompanied by difficulty

in swallowing or talking, due to residual postdiphtheritic paralysis

that may require further treatment. Diphtherinum 30c or 200c may be

given in a daily dose for the first three days following exposure. A

physician should be consulted and other remedies used if the illness

develops.

 

Tetanus

Tetanus is essentially a wound infection complicated by inoculation

of tetanus spores into the wound and germination of these under

strict anaerobic conditions. The infection itself is relatively

minor; like diphtheria (and its close relative botulism), tetanus is

largely an intoxication produced by a highly antigenic protein,

tetanus toxin, against which the standard vaccine is prepared by

heat denaturation.

 

Tetanus does not occur epidemically, and cannot be passed from

person to person, although conditions associated with wound

infections (such as warfare) definitely favor it if the spores are

present. The spore forming organisms live in horse manure, and to a

lesser extent in human manure (chiefly among people who keep

horses); but the spores themselves are highly weather-resistant and

can survive in the soil for decades. They will germinate only under

strict anaerobic conditions--such as a deep, jagged puncture wound

with enough tissue damage to get the infection started (the

proverbial " rusty nail " ) or a simple wound infection (a severe burn

or an infected umbilical cord stump in a newborn) which consumes all

the available oxygen and thereby allows the spores to germinate

underneath.

 

Careful attention to wound hygiene will effectively eliminate the

possibility of tetanus in the vast majority of puncture wounds.

Wounds should be carefully inspected, thoroughly cleaned, surgically

debrided of dead tissue (under local anesthesia, if necessary), and

not allowed to close until healing is well under way " from below. "

Two homeopathic remedies that may have a useful role at this stage

are Ledum 30c, which should be given every two to four hours from

the time of the puncture, and Hypericum 30c, which should be

substituted if any signs of infection are present.

 

I have had no experience with Tetanus, the remedy prepared from the

toxin itself; and tetanus toxoid is of no value unless the

individual has previously been vaccinated, since a primary antibody

response takes at least 14 days, and the incubation period of the

disease can be considerably shorter than this (three to 14 days).

Hypericum can reputedly treat as well as prevent tetanus, but I

would recommend giving human antitoxin at the first sign of the

disease, since it is far less effective later on.

 

If you do decide to vaccinate your children with tetanus toxoid

alone, there is no need to vaccinate until the child is old enough

to walk around and navigate on his or her own (18 to 24 months), at

which time the vaccine is far less likely to cause complications.

 

Poliomyelitis

The poliovirus produces no illness at all in over 90 percent of those

exposed to it; among others, it causes, at most, an ordinary flu

syndrome with fever, weakness, gastrointestinal symptoms, aches, and

pains. Even in epidemic conditions, poliomyelitis (the severe

central nervous system complication) develops only in relatively few

anatomically susceptible persons, most of whom eventually recover.

 

The typical symptoms of poliomyelitis include extreme sensitivity to

touch, irritability, stiff neck, and fine tremors in the early or

preparalytic stage, which may look rather like a viral meningitis.

Not infrequently, the fever will return to normal for a few days

just prior to the onset of these central nervous system symptoms, at

which time it will rise again, producing the " dromedary, " or double-

hump, fever chart. Paralysis--due to inflammation of the anterior

horn cells, or motor nuclei of the spinal cord--often appears

suddenly and early in the course of the illness, as complete loss of

voluntary movement in a single limb, or perhaps of the palate and

throat muscles (in the dangerous brain-stem or bulbar type),

producing disturbances of swallowing. Most of these cases will still

recover, with residual paralysis or death often supervening much

later, after the acute inflammation has subsided.

 

The homeopathic remedy Lathyrus sativus has been found to correspond

most closely in its symptomatology to central nervous system polio,

and has been used with great effectiveness both for prophylaxis of

exposed individuals and for treatment in the early stages of the

illness, before irreversible damage has occurred. According to Dr.

Shepherd, a Dr. Taylor Smith of Johannesburg used Lathyrus 30c, one

dose every 16 days, in 82 healthy people (aged six months to 20

years) living in a seriously infected area, 12 of whom were direct

contacts. This regimen was continued for the duration of the

outbreak, and not one of these people developed poliomyelitis.

 

Dr. Smith also used Lathyrus 30c in three doses, 30 minutes apart,

for a second group of 34 children who were ill with fever, neck

rigidity, and muscle tenderness of varying severity. All of these

children recovered promptly and completely, without any sequelae.

 

Dr. Grimmer of Chicago, a well known homeopath of the thirties and

forties, recommended Latharus 30c or 200c in a single dose repeated

every three weeks for the duration of the epidemic, and stated most

emphatically, from his own experience, that paralysis will not

develop in those so treated. Other remedies may be required for the

illness itself, at the first sign of which a physician should, of

course, be consulted.

 

Measles

Wild-type measles is a strong, febrile illness lasting at least one

or two weeks, with a long incubation period of 14 to 21 days; a

characteristically smooth, confluent rash; " measly " or runny catarrh

of eyes and nose; and a sizable risk of further developments, such

as pneumonia, otitis media, or even laryngitis of the croupy or

whooping-cough type. The incidence of measles in susceptible

contacts approaches 100 percent; and in populations not previously

exposed to it, the fatality rate may be 20 percent or more.

After generations of contact with European and North American

cultures, it became a largely self-limited illness for these

populations, one still memorable but producing complete recovery and

a permanent or lifelong immunity.

 

The prophylaxis and treatment of measles varies somewhat from

outbreak to outbreak, the genus epidemicus corresponding most

closely to Pulsatilla in Hahnemann's series, Bryonia in Dr.

Shepherd's experience, and probably other remedies in other times

and places. In the U.S., largely because of mass vaccination

programs, acute measles is now predominantly a disease of

adolescents and young adults, undoubtedly involving some genetic

interaction with the vaccine virus; and it will probably call for

still other remedies. Pulsatilla remains the remedy most often

recommended for prophylaxis, although my own experience is still too

limited to confirm or refute it.

 

Mumps

Mumps, or epidemic parotitis, resembles measles in its highly

contagious nature and its predilection for the older age groups as a

result of the vaccine program; but it is rather milder, as a rule.

After an incubation period of three weeks, it begins with fever,

runny nose, tenderness around the ears, and swelling of the parotid

on one side, spreading to the other in a few days. About 25 percent

of boys with mumps show swelling and inflammation of one or both

testicles; in girls, the ovaries and breasts are occasionally

affected. Residual scarring and atrophy of one testicle is

sometimes seen in adolescent boys and young men.

 

The nosode Parotidinum, prepared from the saliva of an infected

individual, may be used prophylactically, although Pilocarpine 6c is

the remedy recommended by Shepherd for both prevention and

treatment. I have had no personal experience using remedies with

mumps.

 

Rubella

Rubella, or German measles, is the mildest of all the illnesses for

which vaccines are presently required, and very often escapes

detection entirely. In the adolescent and young adult populations--

those presently most likely to develop it--the illness may be

somewhat bothersome, with arthritic symptoms more likely; the same

symptoms are often encountered after vaccination of these age

groups. In children, there is no reason to treat rubella at all, in

most cases. Pregnant women, especially those exposed in the first

trimester, may be given Pulsatilla 6c or 30c every day for 14

days following exposure, or every four hours for fever and acute

symptoms. Rubella should be suspected in the event of a mild fever;

punctate rash; and swollen or tender lymph nodes behind the ears and

neck, and around the base of the skull--an area seldom affected in

other ailments.

 

People often ask if it is possible to " vaccinate " homeopathically,

to use remedies for the same purpose that the vaccines are normally

given. This question addresses not short-term prophylaxis in the

event of an acute outbreak, which is discussed above, but routine,

long-term protection of the entire population against these diseases.

 

There is some evidence that remedies can be used in this way. I know

of several British veterinarians who use homeopathic rabies nosode

in lieu of injections to protect their dogs--with no serious side

effects and, as yet, no rabies. But in order to do so, they must

give the remedy repeatedly throughout the life of the animal--an

approach that would be much less suitable for humans. This brings us

back to the concept of trying to permanently eliminate

susceptibility to specific diseases. Why attempt such an

uneconomical fantasy, as well as an unnecessary one, since the

remedies work so splendidly well when illness is actually present or

threatening?

 

People also ask whether or not homeopathic treatment can be used in

conjunction with vaccines. Homeopathic remedies may be given to

mitigate the effect or severity of vaccines, just as they have been

used with good effect in cases of vaccine-related illness.

Certainly, when vaccines are given, I would recommend giving Ledum

30c--the basic first-aid remedy for puncture wounds--immediately

afterward, in three doses 30 minutes apart; and following it with

either the nosode prepared from the disease or vaccine itself or

Thuja 30c, the general " antidote " to all vaccines, in three doses

12 hours apart.

 

Be aware of the possibility that a strong family history of vaccine

reaction may greatly increase the risk of receiving that particular

vaccine. Any child whose brother or sister or parent reacted

strongly or violently to a vaccine should certainly be excused from

receiving it, preferably by obtaining a medical exemption from a

physician practicing in that state. Likewise, any child whose

sibling or parent previously contracted poliomyelitis, or a severe

or complicated case of measles or whooping cough or any of the other

diseases listed, should not receive the vaccine prepared against

that illness. Other grounds for medical exemption include

preexisting epilepsy, central nervous system disorder, or any severe

or disabling chronic disease where the risk of serious exacerbation

from the vaccine outweighs the more imponderable long-term benefit.

 

This brings us to the final question of the long-term impact of mass

vaccination programs on individual and community health. Since I have

expressed my concerns on this score, many people have asked if any

research has been done to substantiate them. I can only appreciate

the irony in the fact that the compulsory feature of these programs

is precisely what makes it so conveniently impossible to study them--

so much so, that parents refusing to vaccinate their children

deserve to be congratulated for making such research possible, and

should, in fact, be recruited when it is ready to be carried out.

 

Equally noteworthy is the unprecedented breadth and scope of the

research that will be required. Nothing less than the total health

picture of vaccinated and unvaccinated children, followed over an

entire generation, will suffice--a great collective enterprise that

not only will be exciting and important in itself, but surely will

yield invaluable new models for holistic medical research generally,

models that take us well beyond the outmoded focus on

single " disease entities " in which we are still imprisoned today.

So, regardless of whether or not you decide to vaccinate, I urge

you all to think about a mechanism for how collaborative research of

this kind can be conducted, and how each of us can play our part in

it.

 

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Notes

1. D. Shepherd, Homeopathy in Epidemic Diseases (Rustington, Essex

[u.K.]:Health Sciences Press, 1967). Available from Homeopathic

EducationalServices, 2124 Kittredge St., Berkeley, CA 94704.

2. Samuel Hahnemann, MD (1755- 1843), the discoverer of homeopathy. .

3. R. Moskowitz, " The Case Against Immunizations, " Journal of the

AmericanInstitute of Homeopathy 6 (7 March 1983). Available from the

National Centerfor Homeopathy, 1500 Massachusetts Ave., NW,

Washington, DC. Abridgedversion published in Mothering (Spring

1984). .

 

Ricbard Moskowitz, MD (48) received his undergraduate degree. from

Harvard and his medical degree from New York University. He has

studied classical bomeopatb witb Professor Ceorge Vitboulkas in

Atbens, Greece. Dr. Moskowitz practices at tbe Turning Point

Wellness. Center in Watertown, Massachusetts. and is a past

President of the National Center for Homeopathy.