Letter From Concerned Physicians – Antibiotic Resistance

An Open Letter From Concerned Physicians Regarding Antibiotic Resistance

America and the world face a crisis.

It is now estimated that antibiotic resistant infections may kill an estimated 10 million people a year and cost the world’s economies some $100 trillion annually¹ by the year 2050. Dr. Margaret Chan of the World Health Organization has recently stated that Earth may be approaching a time when things as common as strep throat or a child’s scratched knee could once again kill.

Solutions to this looming crisis must be found and found quickly. As some of America’s leading integrative medicine specialists, we believe it is time to look anew at a modality called homeopathic medicine.

Why homeopathic medicine?

As physicians, we are the first to acknowledge that the diagnostic and surgical tools of conventional medicine are scientific marvels – truly extraordinary and life saving. However, it is also a well-documented fact that many of the drugs currently used by conventional medicine carry risks that are often unacceptable, and in the case of bacterial infections increasingly ineffective.

Signatories, and tens of thousands of our medical colleagues around the world, have repeatedly used homeopathic medicine to effectively and safely treat patients with a wide range of ailments, including serious, and in some cases, life threatening bacterial and viral infections, without the risk of creating further drug resistant organisms. We reached our decision to employ these medicines after careful experimentation and observation, in search of a drug system that relieved suffering without potential toxic side and after-effects.

Why are we recommending consideration of homeopathic medicine?

Let’s start by looking at what we know about it today.

Homeopathic medicine is a 200-year-old system of medicine used by an estimated 500 million people worldwide². The system relies on medicines made from individual plants, animals and minerals that are serially diluted and vigorously agitated during the manufacturing process. Twelve independent research laboratories in North America, Russia, Europe and Asia have now confirmed that all classically-prepared homeopathic medicines studied contain various nanostructures, including source and silica nanoparticles which are heterogeneously dispersed in colloidal solution ^{3 4 5 6}. The above mentioned laboratories and others have found that homeopathic medicines, like modern engineered nanoparticles, have been found to act by modulating biological function of the allostatic stress response network, including cytokines, oxidative stress and heat shock proteins ^7,8. Additionally, there are hundreds of peer-reviewed studies including randomly controlled trials and large observational studies on individual cells, plants, animals and humans, that show homeopathic medicines are exceptionally safe and have measurable and positive biological and therapeutic effects⁹.

Reliable and extensive clinical and public health records have also been carefully examined internationally, looking for evidence of homeopathic medicine’s efficacy during some of the deadliest epidemics of the past 200 years. The main findings of this research show that when homeopathic medicine was employed during these deadly events, mortality rates were routinely very low. This constancy remained regardless of the homeopathic physician, time, place or type of epidemical disease, including diseases carrying a high mortality rate, such as cholera, smallpox, diphtheria, typhoid fever, yellow fever, influenza and pneumonia¹⁰.

Some in the medical community will have reservations about exploring the potential of homeopathic medicine to treat dangerous bacterial infections and will base their objections on two factors: (1) the idea that homeopathic medicines at potencies above 12C contain no active ingredients and, (2) a study published by Shang, et. al. in 2005.

As stated earlier nanoscientists at 12 independent research labs have now consistently confirmed that all medicines studied contain various nanostructures, including source and silica nanoparticles which are heterogeneously dispersed in colloidal solution making homeopathic medicine the first known form of nanomedicine. What’s more we now know from recent discoveries in nanoscience that each remedy manufactured using traditional methods of trituration and vigorous agitation must in fact contain nanostructures. As for the Shang study it has been repeatedly invalidated by a number of medical researchers as methodologically flawed even within an allopathic medical framework^{11,12,13,14,15}.

Finally we make this recommendation while knowing that many of our colleagues will feel uncomfortable using homeopathic medicine singly. As a result we are calling for a collaborative effort to investigate the efficacy of homeopathic medicine in the treatment of patients with these increasingly dangerous infections whereby homeopathic medicine is used only as an adjunct to conventional therapies.

All physicians are bound together by a passion to serve the sick and not by a blind allegiance to any class of drug makers. In the interest of enhancing care, we must set aside tribal divisions that began in the 1840s and come together in unbiased fashion to find solutions to meet the rising tide of antibiotic resistant bacteria that may, in short order, threaten the lives of millions annually.

1. http://www.cnbc.com/2014/12/11/drug-resistance-to-kill-more-than-cancer-by-2050-study.html
2. Bell, I., Adaptive network nanomedicine: an integrated model for homeopathic medicine, Frontiers in Bioscience, 2013, 5(2): 685-708
3. Bhattacharyya SS, Mandal SK, Biswas R, Paul S, Pathak S, Boujedaini N, Belon P, Khuda-Bukhsh AR: In vitro studies demonstrate anticancer activity of an alkaloid of the plant Gelsemium sempervirens. Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 2008, 233(12):1591 1601.
4. Chikramane PS, Suresh AK, Bellare JR, Kane SG: Extreme homeopathic dilutions retain starting materials: A nanoparticulate perspective. Homeopathy 2010, 99(4):231 242.
5. Upadhyay RP, Nayak C: Homeopathy emerging as nanomedicine. International Journal of High Dilution Research 2011, 10(37):299 310.
6. Ives JA, Moffett JR, Arun P, Lam D, Todorov TI, Brothers AB, Anick DJ, Centeno J, Namboodiri MA, Jonas WB: Enzyme stabilization by glass-derived silicates in glassexposed aqueous solutions. Homeopathy 2010, 99(1):15 24
7. Karatsoreos IN, McEwen BS: Psychobiological allostasis: resistance, resilience and vulnerability. Trends Cogn Sci 2011, 15(12):576 584.
8. McEwen BS: Central effects of stress hormones in health and disease: Understanding the protective and damaging effects of stress and stress mediators. Eur J Pharmacol 2008, 583(2 3):174 185.
9. http://homeopathyusa.org/uploads/Homeopathy_references.pdf
10. http://www.homeopathy.ca/debates_2013-03-22Q1ns.shtml
11. http://www.britishhomeopathic.org/evidence/meta-analysis-shang-et-al-2005/
12. Aickin, M., The End of Biomedical Journals. There is Madness in Their Methods., J Altern Complement Med. 2005 Oct;11(5):755-7.
13. Rutten, L. ‘Proof’ against homeopathy in fact supports Homeopathy. Homeopathy. 2006 Jan;95(1):57-61.
14. Mathie, R. et. al., Randomised placebo-controlled trials of individualised homeopathic treatment: systematic review and meta-analysis. Systematic Reviews 2014 3:142
15. Bell IR. All evidence is equal, but some evidence is more equal than others: can logic prevail over emotion in the homeopathy debate? J Altern Complement Med. 2005; 11 (5):763-9.