Excerpt from eBook: Homeopathic Family Medicine: Evidence Based Homeopathy (temporary offer + 2-year subscription by Dana Ullman, MPH

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Malaria is a very serious infectious disease that kills more than one million people per year, and because there is increasing resistance to conventional drugs that are prescribed for this disease, experts expect the death rate from malaria to grow in coming decades.  However, a new study has confirmed that individually chosen homeopathic medicines can be as effective or more effective than the present standard drug, chloroquine, in the treatment of malaria.

Malaria is an infectious disease that results in about 350–500 million infections in humans and approximately 1.3–3 million deaths annually.  The sub-Saharan Africa region accounts for 85–90% of these fatalities, the vast majority of which occur in children under the age of 5 years. The death rate from malaria is expected to double in the next 20 years.

Malaria is a significant health problem in most developing countries. Resistence against chloroquine, a rather cheap and easy avai­lable drug, has become widespread (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloroquine).  Further, the side effects to chloroquine are serious enough that America’s Center for Disease Control no longer recommends its use alone.  Although some other drugs are being used today in conjunction with chloroquine to provide greater efficacy, it is only a matter of time when resistence will develop to these drugs, making alternatives to conventional malarial treatment desirable.  Homeopathic medicines may be a viable alternative and/or complementary treatment.

An initial open-study of 75 patients with malaria was conducted in the northern region of Ghana, of whom 90.7% showed clinical improvement (Erp and Brands, 1996).

A randomized double-blind study was conducted in this same region, in which some of the patients were prescribed an individually chosen homeopathic medicine, while the other group underwent the same homeopathic interview process but instead were prescribed the leading conventional drug for malaria, chloroquine (Erp and Brands, 1996).  Both groups were given two drugs (one of which was the real drug and one of which was a placebo).  Every patient was given the same number of drugs that looked and tasted the same.

In the double blind study, 74 patients were treated: 41 in group I (= homeopathy verum and chloroquine placebo) and 33 in group II (= homeopathy placebo and chloroquine verum). 11 pa­tients of group I and 8 patients of group II didn't return on their follow-up visit. Twenty five out of 30 (83.3%) patients in group I showed improve­ment of at least three symptoms of the listed symptoms. The 95% reliability-interval is 65.3-94.4%. In group II were 18 patients out of 25 (72%), who showed an improve­ment. The 95% reli­ability-interval is 50.6%-87.9%. The difference between the homeopathic treatment and the chloroquine treatment is 11% in favor of the homeopa­thic-treatment. The X²-test is 1.03 with a p-value of 0.31 (non-significant).

In this research the following remedies have been prescribed most often: Arsenicum album, China, Eupatoriatum perfoliatum, Natrum muriati­cum, Pulsatilla, Rhus toxicodendron, Nux vomica and Sulphur (each of them has been used in > 5% of the cases).

Ultimately, this study found that homeo­pathic medicines had a comparable with and slightly (non-significantly) better result than the conventional drug, chloroquine. The effect of chloroquine might be difficult to calibrate as the level of resistance against chloroquine is not known in the population studied.­

Researchers at National Homeopathic Medical School in Mexico City investigated the effect of homeopathic preparations of Eupatorium perfoliatum 30CH and Arsenicum album 6CH on parasitemia using a rodent malaria model (Lira-Salazar, Marines-Montiel, Torres-Monzón, 2006).  They found significant inhibitory effect on parasite multiplication with both medications with a level of 60% for Eupatorium perfoliatum at a 30CH potency. Arsenicum album 0/6 gave 70% inhibition but this was less stable than Eupatorium perfoliatum. The number of schizonts was higher in animals treated with homeopathic medications. Although the mechanism of action is unknown, these agents would be good candidates as alternative or complementary medications in the treatment of malaria.

REFERENCES:

Lira-Salazar G, Marines-Montiel E, Torres-Monzón J, et al. Effects of homeopathic medications Eupatorium perfoliatum and Arsenicum album on parasitemia of Plasmodium berghei-infected mice. Homeopathy. 2006 Oct ;95 (4):223-8.

van Erp, V.M.A. and Brand, M. Homeopathic treatment of malaria in Ghana, British Homeopathic Journal, April 1996, 85 :66-70.  Available online as:  Malaria and Homeopathic Remedies in Ghana : An Open Study and a Double-blind Randomized Clinical Trial.  http://www.giriweb.com/vanerp.htm