Hasta el Absurdo Siempre!

It looks as if homeopaths will be making a noise about their victorious successes in Cuba against the scourge of leptospirosis. Last month, a conference was held in Havana, entitled “Nosodes 2008: International Meeting on Homeopropylaxis, Homeopathic Immunization and Nosodes against Epidemics”. Homeopaths turned up to hear stories of the successes of magic water against dangerous diseases.

What is a nosode? A Nosode is “a homeopathic remedy prepared from a pathological specimen. The specimen is taken from a diseased animal or person and may consist of saliva, pus, urine, blood, or diseased tissue.” This may sound a little like conventional vaccines – but there are important differences. When you wish to immunise someone against a dangerous disease, the key trick is to use something that is far less dangerous that what you are protecting against. Real vaccines protect against microorganisms by introducing the body to killed, attenuated or partial versions of the same microorganism. Nosodes do not introduce the body to anything. The dangerous “saliva, pus, urine, blood” is made safe by diluting to such extreme levels so that all that is left is water. Yes, homeopathic nosode immunisation is the same as any other homeopathic remedy – nothing. Of course, homeopaths claim that shaking the water introduces important quantum, vibrational dooda into the water – and this is what protects you.

However, even amongst homeopaths, the practice of homeoprophylaxis through nosodes is highly controversial. There are a number of reasons why.

• Firstly, you see, homeopathy in its ‘classical’ form is about ‘like cures like’. The important word being ‘like’. Homeoprophylaxis does not use ‘like’ but ‘same’. This is heretical for many fundamentalist homeopaths. It is often called ‘Isopathy’, rather than homeopathy. In his later life, Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, denounced this heretical and deviant form of medicine. “To desire to cure thus, by a pathogenic power rigorously equal (per idem) is contrary to common sense and even to all experiences”.
• Secondly, homeopathy is supposed to be ‘individualised’. That is, a remedy is selected from a vast selection based on a wide range of ‘symptoms’. These may not just be the symptoms of your disease, but on your state of mind, whether you were stuck in traffic that morning, your dreams about cheese last night – the list goes on. For many homeopaths, the idea that you can give the same remedy to millions of people without ‘individualising’ goes against the principles of homeopathy.
• Thirdly, homeopathic immunisation, or homeoprophylaxis, relies on giving the remedy before you have the symptoms that you are supposed to match against. Again, a major no-no for many homeopaths.

However, one can be pretty certain though: differences in homeopathy only really matter when discussing failures to cure. If there is a whiff of success in the air, these minor ecumenical disagreements will be dropped faster than an motion to promote the MMR vaccine at a homeopaths’ conference. These differences persist over the decades in homeopathy as there is no acceptable standard of evidence to either accept or reject any belief. Homeopaths believe what they want to believe forever, no matter how absurd, dangerous and deluded.

So, what was going in Cuba? A presentation was given at the conference that suggested that an outbreak of leptospirosis had been prevented in Cuba by mass homeopathic immunisation.

Leptospirosis “Weil’s disease” is an endemic disease in many countries caused by bacteria in water, transmitted often by rats. In many developing countries it can account for many deaths per year. In the UK, it only manages to kill the odd canoeist once in a blue moon.

Cuba has has a problem with the disease. When the Autumn hurricanes hit, rats can be swept out of the sewers and into the paths of humans. Many more people come into contact with infected water. The prevalence of the disease is not constant though and depends on many factors. Up until the end of the eighties, the disease was under control. One factor was that the Soviet Union was supporting Cuba and supplying a vaccine that appeared to be effective. With the collapse of communism in Europe, such assistance quickly dried up and reports of leptospirosis leapt from 0.16 deaths per 100,000 in 1987 to 1.03 deaths per 100,000 in 1993.

Since then, the government of Cuba has taken action. Due to the enormous embargoes placed on them by the US, the Cuban economy has become remarkably self-sufficient in many areas and has achieved sometimes extraordinary things on minute budgets. It has a literacy rate of 99.8% (one of the highest in the world) and a life expectancy from birth of 75 for men and 79 for women (c.f. USA 75 and 80 respectively.) This is despite spending only $229 dollars per head on health compared with $6,096 in the US.

One thing that has been achieved against leptospirosis is the development of a new local vaccine. It appears that a mass vaccination programme has been underway for several years now with the locally developed vaccine Vax-Spiral ®. Also, the government has been recognising the importance of prevention:

Public health authorities are prioritizing rodent control and surveillance to prevent the disease known as leptospirosis. It’s recommended to see a doctor immediately if persistent fever appears and MINSAP is offering prophylactic medicines and including a vaccine to control leptospirosis, which is being administered in areas where there’s risk of contracting this disease.

Deaths from the disease need not happen if the public is educated about the symptoms and effective treatments are put in place. The Cuban government appears to be pretty good at ensuring there are a ‘pool of community doctors on every corner’.

What did the homeopaths in Cuba do and what do they think they achieved? Details are hard to come by as there is no published ‘scientific’ paper yet. Reports from the conference suggest that 2.5 million people were given two doses of a homeopathic nosode (Nosolet) alongside “two Bach Flower Essences to address the typical mental and emotional effects of the disease. ” This cost, apparently, $200,000. Now, seeing as the homeopathy is simply water, costing nothing, surely the bulk of the cost must have come from the imperialist dogs at Nelson’s Homeopathic Pharmacy in London who make the Bach Flower Essences. Bach remedies are like homeopathic remedies except that they use brandy rather than water. The little vials you can buy in Boots are just tiny bottles of dilute Brandy – the most expensive brandy in the world. If Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara were alive today, he would be turning in his grave at the thought of such decadent western nonsense being use to subvert the revolution from imperial corruption.

So, is there evidence that the homeopathic experiment worked? Of course not. Accounts from the conference suggest that there were merely 10 infections per month and no deaths. Can this be attributed to homeopathy or the other health measure in effect? We will not know until a paper is published. But here is my prediction: it will basically say, we dished out the magic water and brandy, we saw a small amount of infection, we concluded it woz the homeopathy wot did it. No control groups. No baseline. Just assertion.

Will we see UK homeopaths crowing about this? Maybe. But they may have also learnt a lesson from last year when a conference by the Society of Homeopaths flaunted nonsense about the treatment of HIV. They were crucified in the press.

I actually look forward to them trying to shout about this. It will simply highlight their inability to recognise the boundaries of what they know they can safely achieve. And this is the major criticism I have of homeopathy. If they stuck to being truly complementary and having nice chats about aches and pains I would have little to say. But they continue to persist in fantastical delusions that they are a true alternative to science and medicine. And in that role, they are a menace.

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UPDATE 26/08/2010

After a very long period, it would appear that the homeopaths have finally found somewhere to publish the results. Not in a real journal, but in a quack journal, Homeopathy.

The paper has been taken apart by the blogger apgaylard. Very worth reading.

Much ado about nothing

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Note: Due to a technical error when this blog was moved from one platform to another, the comments were not properly imported. What follows is a text archive of the discussion. Please feel free to add to the discussion in the normal way.

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25 Comments:

paulC said…

Thank you for this piece. Homeopaths selling their rubbish to those middle-class neurotics who can afford to indulge their scientific illiteracy is bad enough, but their atttempts to gull and subvert the admirable and sadly depleted Cuban medical sysytem are disgraceful. If like cures like, these ‘homeopathic healers’ should be buried in bullshit.

09 January, 2009 21:30

Anonymous said…

Liked the post, but one kind of unrelated point stood out…
“This is despite spending only $229 dollars per head on health compared with $6,096 in the US.”
The line just sounds like another cheap jab against “the misery of western ways and their stupid fast-food” made by, well, among others homeopaths! lol
I’m pretty certain that that’s an average of what an American pays on healthcare insurance every year, though, and not being sick per se.

09 January, 2009 22:49

Anonymous said…

link under ‘crucified’ not working

10 January, 2009 00:55

Anonymous said…

“Real vaccines protect against microorganisms by introducing the body to killed, attenuated or partial versions of the same microorganism”
Also:
Toxoids – inactivated toxin produced by bacteria (eg Tetanus, Diptheria)
Proteins – surface proteins (Hepatitis B) or capsid proteins (HPV/Gardasil)
Conjugates – the polysaccharide in the viral coat is conjugated with a protein (toxin) to trick the immune system into reognising the polysaccharide as a toxin. (Haemophilus influenza type B)
Synthetic – synthetic vaccines (eg Haemophilus influenza type B)
BillyJoe

10 January, 2009 03:20

Anonymous said…

“The line just sounds like another cheap jab against “the misery of western ways and their stupid fast-food” ”
Absolutely not.
In fact, it is an indictment of the American health care system.
Apart from being the only first world country without a universal health care system (which is a scandal in itself), it is also the most inefficient health care system in the world by a very large margin.
Hopefully, one of Barak Obama’s top priorities will be to fix this.
regards,
BillyJoe

10 January, 2009 03:33

Le Canard Noir said…

First anonymous. Yes, my comment was intended to show the vast wastefulness and the iniquitous nature of the US healthcare system. There are many human rights abuses on the island of Cuba – not all of them committed by Cubans. Somehow the government of Cuba achieves pretty good health care outcomes for the population. But a health care system that is outside of the reach of many, lines the pockets of big business and results in such uneven and often poor health outcomes, is a massive blot on the US.

10 January, 2009 09:41

Blue Bubble said…

Don’t know if this was intentional, but it made me laugh:
“If Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara were alive today, he would be turning in his grave …”

10 January, 2009 10:20

Anonymous said…

PaulC-Your comment about middle class neurotics trying to subvert the depleted Cuban medical system is wrong. This all came from within Cuba with some help from two Australian homeopaths. Where is the evidence that any UK homeopaths were involved in this?
The duck said
‘What did the homeopaths in Cuba do and what do they think they achieved?’

10 January, 2009 11:00

PhD scientist said…

I wonder if Che’s medical degree would lead to his revolving in his grade at double speed – once for the imported capitalist wibble, and once for the anti-scientific idiocy?

11 January, 2009 22:41

paulC said…

Anonymous – you mis-read my comments. Less haste, more clarity.

11 January, 2009 23:05

Anonymous said…

so how do you explain what happened. it’s pretty clear to me!
john paul sheedy

12 January, 2009 19:15

Le Canard Noir said…

Well, at the moment, it is not clear what needs to be explained.
Leptospirosis is a disease that is highly variable in occurrence. Its prevalence is going to depend on many factors including the severity of hurricanes in Cuba and the current rat population levels and the level of their predators.
One year will be very different to another and it will take a brave person who says they can ‘know’ what the incidence level ought to be.
This coupled with the facts that Cuba is undertaking many public health measures against the disease adds to the uncertainty. Vaccination against high risk individuals (sewage workers, agricultural workers and others exposed to contaminated water) will have a dramatic effect. The new vaccine will be targeted at these people. Add in rat control measures (which is happening) and public health education measures and it would be surprising if the incidence was not at a historical low. As greater awareness of the symptoms is now out there, deaths ought to be very rare indeed.
All this makes it very hard for a homeopaths to claim that the low incidence is due to their magic water and dilute brandy. As such a treatment is highly implausible, the homeopathic evidence ought to be strong. What would be needed is a measurement of the baseline occurrence of the disease and deaths. From the reports given so far, it appears that no attempt was made to measure baseline levels – they were simpley assumed from historical levels. There are no mentions of any placebo or control groups where half the population were given blank sugar pills and cheap brandy as a substitute for the supposed homeopathy cure.
My guess is that, as I say in the article, the homeopaths will take the low incidence as proof that their magic pills and brandy worked. Some of us can think a little harder and not be fooled by such idiocy.

13 January, 2009 00:24

SVETLANA PERTSOVICH said…

It is not surprising.
Quacks try to digest “new territory”.
Socialist Cuba is ending.The sunset of proletarian socialism is going out over the world.
Not “communism”! Communism itself didn’t exist else in the world.
There was only proletarian socialism. Moreover – there was also bourgeois socialism in the world 😉 Yes! It is best name for such regime, which was in many “capitalistic” countries of the world after World War II – for example, in Britain, though now “orthodox marxists” will start to throw into me heavy things because of these words 🙂 But I insist on this term – it reflects the essence of this regime.
Is it bad that socialistic period of history is ending now? Not at all! I say it as a marxist (or neo-marxist? new marxist? No matter!) It was period of mistake. This theoretical mistake was made by Marx, though he was not to blame for this, paradoxically. The point is that proletariat can’t be a hegemon of socialism/communism as Marx said. Read early Marx’s works to understand it! Communism is a social structure, which is run by reason. And this society with high moral-ethical ideals. So this society can be run only by class with highest level of education and high ideology and moral. Can proletariat be a hegemon in such society? No! He is not suitable on the basis of the first parameter – it has not high level of education. Can bourgeoisie be a hegemon of socialism? No! it is not suitable on the basis of the second parameter – it has not high ideology and moral. Only one class can be suitable for this. In Russia this class has name “intelligentia”. However, this class exists in any country. Who is it – this “intelligentia”? It is we! You, Andy. Me. David Colquhoun. Ben Goldacre. My and your university colleagues. Teachers. Medical doctors. Scientists. Engineers. Journalists. Et cetera, et cetera! This is all of us. And communism is our native (future!) social regime. And we must not be afraid of this word. And I see that all of you feel it (if not understand). I see that you write with sorrow about past age of enlightenment (before Thatcher’s ruling). I feel your respect toward Russia/former USSR. I see that you say about Cuba with sympathy. But you don’t know still, that this socialism, which Cuba owns (USSR owned), is actually OUR thing. And only intelligentia is capable to run communism rightly and reasonably.
But I guess that now orthodox marxists will shoot me by machine-gun, but not only throw heavy things into me 😉 For many years they taught us that intelligentia is NOT class. Yes, it was so, I agree. Intelligentia was not a class in Marx’s time, so he made his mistake (though he belonged to intelligentia himself in fact). Intelligentia was not a class up to our epoch. But just now it has become a class. And it is main feature of our time. We became a class. And we must run the world. Our time is coming!
OK. I guess that my statements sound as a shock. Nevertheless it is a truth about our world and us.
I shall write about it a post in my blog.
So, now you can boldly throw the capitalism and “free market” (and all quacks as a necessary attribute of capitalism) to scrap-heap – I see that none of us likes these things and we are right in it 🙂

15 January, 2009 02:53

Rocko said…

I’m already starting to see this study cropping up as “evidence” of homeopathy’s efficacy.
It says it all that there’s basically no facts released about it, but they’re still happy to trumpet it. The power of wishful thinking,

10 February, 2009 19:00

Anonymous said…

Anyone who is truly scientific will see these results and want to know more…not shoot it down. W
The evidence for homeopathic disease prevention is there for all to see in the hospitals medical records and homeopathic journals from countries all around the world from the last 200 years. Remember, homeopathy is Western medicine and all homeopaths were MDs. The official archival hospital records and government health records show the success of homeopathy in scarlet fever, cholera, typhoid, diptheria, spanish flu etc. It’s all documented and there to be read if you choose to. No conjecture, no theorizing, no anecdotes, just evidence.

18 February, 2009 15:30

Le Canard Noir said…

Anyone who is truly scientific knows that homeopathy is a nonsense. We can be sufficiently sure of this fact to predict that a) these Cuban results will never be written up or b) if they are written up, they will be laughable. Trying to prevent lethal disease with sugar pills is grossly negligent and the homoeopaths involved should be charged not lauded.
There are no reliable data that show homoeopathy can cure any disease. Despite your protestations, you have no evidence – at best the self-aggrandising boasts of historical quacks. You are being fooled and you are fooling others.

18 February, 2009 18:00

Antony said…

All that hate you have stored in your liver canard noir. I can only see an early demise for you poor fellow. Why not rejoice in less pain in old Havana. Less infections and no deaths. A remarkable achievement. Unfortunately you’re such a desperately shallow, insecure and downright depressive individual you just have to stick your oar in and spoil all the fun.
May I suggest a lie down and a bucket full of pharmaceutical drugs. Nothing too strong though naturally.
chin chin

25 February, 2009 02:13

Le Canard Noir said…

Antony. Your reaction only strengthens my point.

25 February, 2009 02:19

Anonymous said…

Dear Quackometer or Andy,
Your being very well versed in the rules of homeopathy is commendable. I will be surprised if knowing all you know, you ever dare to vaccinate your children with Big-farma vaccines, if you have any.
However:
The third reason for not giving the ‘vaccine’ is wrong:
In a time of Real Emergency, A Plague in this case, the situation is treated in different manner as to prevent the people from being contracted DURING THE EVENT, or SHORTLY BEFORE THE EVENT is factually known that the plague is going to appear. No side effects, as the nosode is diluted in water as you said, and kept in alcohol for obvious reasons. Hahanemann himself used a nosode in the Black plague.
Huge-farma prepare vaccine for epidemics long gone, only to be ignited by vaccines themselves, and also with a myriad of terrible side effects such as autism and cot death. In addition they vaccinate for ordinary childhood diseases that are ment to give life long immunity to children, from these diseases that normally are not dangerous and when they are we, homeopaths have rmedies for these too.
“No control groups”, you must be joking, This is a real plague that happens with every flood. Any control groups, double blind for them, the placebos would have come out so much better – if they had any, I know from clinical & personal experience.

16 May, 2009 11:56

Anonymous said…

no control groups – I meant the huge farma have no control groups…on vaccines… and no follow ups. As even doctors who witness severe effects after a vaccine do not report it and shun them as “not connected to the vaccine”. Parents have won millions of dollars in damages from the drug industry (those who had the energy and means to charge). This is not the case for the malnourished in Africa who had been vaccined with vile vaccines and contaminated needles and now they have an eye opener to the genocide that the big farma along with the globalists are carrying on. This is very logical and very inhumane – that you might understand.

16 May, 2009 20:45

Dr Isaac Golden said…

Dear Scientists
Firstly to get historical accuracy – Dr Hahnemann was the first to use homoeoprophylaxis – to prevent scarlet fever in 1798 – he was not opposed to it, as the law of Similars goes beyong just treatment (as any properly trained homeopath knows)
Secondly, the Vaxspiral was not responsible for the dramatic turnaround if the leptospirosis outbreak in 2007 – it has an 80% efficacy, was given to less than 25% of the people in the 3 targeted provinces, and had a 3 month lead time to get maximum efficiacy which would have taken it well past the critical period.
Homoeoprophylaxis was given to well over 90% of the target population (2 doses given to about 2.4 million people in 2007 and another round to 2.2 million people in 2008).
Now whilst I know that most of you want homoeopathy to fail irrespective of evidence – a true scientist would have a truly open mind, so there will be a few of you who will like to know that this is a truly historical moment – hard data collected by the scientists at the Finlay Institute which makes vaccines for Cuba, and much of Africa (the spots where Big Pharma won’t sell when there is no profit)
A scientific paper is being published very soon by Dr Bracho and colleagues, and you will see the data, and the evidence.
I hope those of you who value truth will then ask the question – “according to the model, this shouldn’t happen – so what is missing from the model”.
For a true scientist, this is actually very exciting.
I got here by accident and probably won’t be able to respond to replies – but I am on the web if any skeptics want a meaningful, balanced chat about this
Dr isaac Golden

26 August, 2009 09:38

Le Canard Noir said…

First of all Dr Golden, your views on homoeoprophylaxis are not shared by all homeopaths. What did Hahnemann believe when treating families struck with scarlet fever? Was he preventing the disease or was he treating current symptoms before they came to the surface?
In any case, such musings are a waste of time. The important fact is that you cannot prevent disease with sugar pills and if you believe you can then you are dangerously deluded. This Cuban trial is an exercise in madness and should be thoroughly condemned.
It is not closed minded to say such things as it is not closed minded to not believe in magic. Homeopathy has not earned the right to conduct such trials. In two hundred years it has failed to produce a body of evidence that shows its hypotheses are correct or that it can actually successfully treat people. The laws of homeopathy contradict well established principles of physics, chemistry and biology. The clinical data, taken as a whole, is completely consistent with it being an inert treatment. Homeopathy is exactly what it looks like – simple quackery.
Therefore, to conduct such a trial on millions of people is utterly immoral. This paper, if it is ever published, will undoubtedly expose the weaknesses of what was done. If it does not, then the probability is more that the authors are incompetent or even fraudulent rather than this being a breakthrough. Come up with some basic repeatable data and you may betaken more seriously.
Homeopathy has to demonstrate its basics first before it can earn the right to propose to prevent dangerous diseases. I am shocked that supposedly reasonable people can get involved with this murderous scam.

27 August, 2009 21:05

Anonymous said…

My understanding of the presentation was that the outcome was compared with previous years, at least specifically the prior year, there was a hugely significant difference in prophylaxis. The years the vaccination was used showed infections in the 1000’s and deaths. No deaths with the homeoprophylaxsis, and 10 infections. Even with the other variables, there were the steady vaccination trials in previous years that showed high rates of infection and death, never the low rates of the homeoprophylaxis. They even graphed it for you! Even with just the introductory information, its a no-brainer: it works.The previous years are the baseline.
You quackbusters are the most biased “scientists” on the history of the planet. I can understand that if you’re working for the pharmaceutical industry, but otherwise it sure looks to me like your’e the deluded ones.
The black duck says: “I actually look forward to them trying to shout about this. It will simply highlight their inability to recognise the boundaries of what they know they can safely achieve”
My God, man, you ca’nt get anymore biased than that!!

16 November, 2009 18:28

Le Canard Noir said…

My word. Graphs. It must be true.
Let us see the report published in a peer reviewed journal. The fact that it has not been published would suggest that it cannot stand up to even the most basic scrutiny. Why won’t even the homeopathic fanzine journals publish it?
This sort of research highlights just how dangerous homeopaths are. If a government were to adopt this wholesale it would lead to the deaths of many. But homeopaths have faith, and that is all they need.

16 November, 2009 18:49

Martyn Norris said…

Homeopaths are crowing about it, http://tinyurl.com/y8m9zpj