by Givon Zirkind, D.Hom.
Ebola is a life-threatening disease that requires professional medical care. At present there are no known therapies, vaccines or drugs for this disease.(1) This article analyses Ebola from a homeopathic perspective and recommends possible homeopathic treatment approaches.
Because of the severity of the illness, the treatment methods presented should only be carried out by an experienced homeopath. Unfortunately, in the USA there are almost no conventional physicians with recognised homeopathic specialist training. In this case, a team approach of conventional doctors and homeopaths would be the best solution. This article is for informational purposes only and is intended to encourage the study of possible experimental therapies.
Ebola begins with flu-like symptoms:
Fever, sore throat, muscle pains, headache, fatigue. A general feeling of malaise. Possible accompanying symptoms are vomiting, diarrhoea and a rash (macules, papules, erythema). Loss of appetite is common. Joint, muscle and abdominal pains may also occur.(2/3/4/5)
Less common symptoms include: difficulty swallowing, hiccups, shortness of breath and chest pain.
The second phase of the illness...
...is accompanied by bleeding. The bleeding is usually not profuse, but prolonged. Mucous membranes, the gastrointestinal tract, nose, vagina, gums and skin are predominantly affected. The eyes may be bloodshot. Vomiting blood and coughing up blood. Blood in the stool. (Petechiae, purpura, ecchymoses and haematomas form.)
Obviously the pain offers clues to the progression of the disease. It appears that the stomach pain is a harbinger of internal abdominal bleeding. The chest pain develops from a weakening of the lungs with subsequent bleeding.
Symptoms that require more precise description for a homeopathic diagnosis:
Fever, headache, fatigue, blood in the stool and vaginal bleeding, joint pain.
To treat homeopathically, these symptoms must be specified in more detail: onset, colour, accompanying symptoms, etc.
Repertorisation of the main rubrics/symptoms of the disease:
FEVER, BLEEDING, oozing haemorrhage – as the leading symptom. Repertorisation by individual rubrics yields the remedies SULPHURICUM ACIDUM and CROTALUS HORRIDUS.
REMEDIES MOST STRONGLY INDICATED FOR THE TREATMENT OF EBOLA:
– SULPHURICUM ACIDUM is the most similar to Ebola fever in history and symptomatology.
– CROTALUS HORRIDUS has many similar but less severe leading symptoms.
– CROTALUS CASCAVELLA also shows bleeding.
Kent's Repertory gives the following rubrics:
EYE – ECCHYMOSE
NOSE – NOSEBLEED
MOUTH – BLEEDING – Gums – blood oozes out, black
THROAT – INTERNAL – SWALLOWING, obstructed – difficult
STOMACH – VOMITING – blood
STOMACH – HICCUPS
BREATHING – OBSTRUCTED
EXPECTORATION – BLOODY, haemoptysis
(More symptoms could be repertorised, but for accuracy one would need a more detailed description: rash1, colour of the blood in the stool etc.)
From the above list of Kent the following remedies can be repertorised:(6)
ARUM TRIPHYLLUM, FERRUM, CROTALUS HORRIDUS, SULPHURICUM ACIDUM
Lower down, but still notable: STANNUM, CROTALUS CASCAVELLA, ELAPS and several others.
FROM PROVING RECORDS
– ARUM TRIPHYLLUM is rather a remedy for blistering and does not have the strong bleeding seen in Ebola.
– CROTALUS HORRIDUS is a well-proved remedy for blood breakdown as caused by the snake venom itself. Ecchymoses are a known symptom of CROTALUS HORRIDUS.
– CROTALUS CASCAVELLA – particularly noteworthy. A Cascavella poisoning shows the leading symptoms of the Ebola symptomatology: bleeding, (often painful) coughing and vomiting, insomnia, chest pain, fever. Difficulty swallowing. Bleeding gums. Nosebleeds. Bloody diarrhoea and hiccups.
– FERRUM is a well-proved remedy with a particular affinity for the blood.
– SULPHURICUM ACIDUM has very similar bleeding symptoms to Ebola.
PROPHYLAXIS
Until one or more remedies have been clinically tested to establish statistical efficacy, prophylaxis should resort to those remedies whose effectiveness in treating Ebola is most likely.
SULPHURICUM ACIDUM, CROTALUS HORRIDUS, CROTALUS CASCAVELLA, FERRUM and ARUM TRIPHYLLUM.
[A standard homeopathic prophylaxis would be C30 three times daily for 3 days.]
Summary:
As a homeopath, without further detailed symptom descriptions I would, without reservation, recommend CROTALUS CASCAVELLA, CROTALUS HORRIDUS and SULPHURICUM ACIDUM. ARUM TRIPHYLLUM and FERRUM should be given when indicated. It should not be overlooked that a patient at the time of examination may present a different symptom picture that indicates a different homeopathic remedy.
*****************************
1 CDC, Ebola, Treatment: http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/treatment/index.html
2 "Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever Signs and Symptoms". CDC. 28.01.2014. Accessed 02.08.2014
3 "Ebola virus disease". Fact sheet 103. WHO. April 2014
4 Simpson DIH (1977). "Marburg and Ebola virus infections: a guide for their diagnosis, management, and control" (PDF). WHO Offset Publication No. 36. pp. 10f. 1
5 Feldmann, H; Geisbert, TW (05.03.2011). "Ebola haemorrhagic fever". Lancet 377 (9768): 849–62. PubMed ID 21084112
6 see also Homeoint.Org – This website is very useful when travelling if I do not have access to my books.
