The various factors that influence whether exposure leads to infection and whether infection leads to disease remain unknown. However, as with many infectious conditions, a stronger immune system reduces the chances of getting the disease or at least decreases the chances of complications from the infection. It therefore seems prudent to avoid the factors that inhibit immune response and to utilize those that augment it. The factors that inhibit immune response include an unhealthy lifestyle (i.e., smoking, poor diet, significant stress, sedentary habits) and the use of therapeutic and recreational drugs, while those that augment immune response tend to be a healthy lifestyle and utilizing natural therapeutics, including homeopathic medicines.
While the precise mechanism of action that leads to AIDS isn't known, a new and significant study suggests that homeopathic medicines may have a dramatic effect on some people with HIV. A study performed by a government research center in India with 129 asymptomatic HIV+ patients (120 male and 9 female) showed that during homeopathic treatment over a period of 3 to 16 months, 11 patients changed from HIV+ to HIV-.5 No conventional drugs of any type were prescribed to these patients.
The medical literature has on rare occasions reported individual patients who for unknown reasons converted from being HIV+ to being HIV-. This study is the first to report more than one.
It should be noted that this writer acknowledges that it does not initially make sense that people can turn from HIV+ to HIV-, because the tests that determine this status are simply evaluating a person's antibodies, not the disease itself. It is generally assumed that people who become HIV+ will remain that way throughout their lives. It therefore seems obvious that the work by the Indian researchers should be more carefully studied to evaluate this potentially significant clinical result. It should also be noted that these researchers have elsewhere published more up-to-date data which shows significant improvement in immune panels and blood work in HIV+ and AIDS patients as the result of homeopathic treatment.6
These same researchers also conducted a study on the immunological status of 34 HIV+ patients.7 After six months of individualized homeopathic treatment, 23 (67%) of the 34 subjects' immune profiles improved. Thirteen patients experienced a 0-10% increase in CD4 lymphocytes (a higher number of CD4 lymphocytes suggests a stronger immune response) and 10 patients experienced a greater than 10% increase. Because there is a tendency for people with HIV to have continually decreasing CD4 lymphocytes, this study suggests that homeopathic medicines provided a benefit to the subjects.
A San Francisco Bay Area homeopath, Lawrence Badgley, MD, reported on a six month study of 36 patients with AIDS or HIV whom he treated with homeopathic and other natural medicines. He observed a 13% increase in T4 helper cells and an average weight gain of two pounds.8 AIDS tends to have increasingly degenerating effects on the body, and improvement in the immune profile and weight gain seem to be rarely experienced under conventional medical treatment.
In addition to what homeopathy offers in the prevention of AIDS, other natural therapies that strengthen the body's own defense should also be considered. For instance, a recent study of HIV+ patients who were given only a multivitamin/mineral supplement were found to develop AIDS at a substantially slower rate than those who did not supplement their diet. If this simple addition to one's prevention program is so effective, it isn't hard to imagine what more individualized nutritional and natural medicine programs can do to slow down onset of this dreaded disease.
Treatment of Acute Illnesses During AIDS
Because of the seriousness of this disease, the treatment of people with HIV or AIDS requires professional health care, even when their ailments are seemingly minor. Ideally, they should receive treatment from a homeopath who is an M.D. or a D.O., but otherwise the best care is one that integrates homeopathic treatment with appropriate medical diagnosis and, in emergency situations, with appropriate medical treatment.