Background:
Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease of major importance in the tropics where the incidence peaks in rainy seasons. Natural disasters represent a big challenge to Leptospirosis prevention strategies, especially in endemic regions. Vaccination is an effective option but of reduced effectiveness in emergency situations. Homeoprophylac- tic interventions might help to control epidemics by using highly-diluted pathogens to induce protection in a short time scale. We report the results of a very large-scale homeoprophylaxis (HP) intervention against Leptospirosis in a dangerous epidemic situation in three provinces of Cuba in 2007.
Methods:
Forecast models were used to estimate possible trends of disease incidence. A homeoprophylactic formulation was prepared from dilutions of four circulating strains of Leptospirosis. This formulation was administered orally to 2.3 million persons at high risk in an epidemic in a region affected by natural disasters. The data from surveillance were used to measure the impact of the intervention by comparing it with historical trends and non-intervention regions.
Results:
After the homeoprophylactic intervention, a significant decrease of the disease incidence was observed in the intervention regions. No such modifications were observed in non-intervention regions. In the intervention region, the incidence of Leptospirosis fell below the historic median. This observation was independent of rainfall.
Conclusions:
The homeoprophylactic approach was associated with a large reduction of disease incidence and control of the epidemic. The results suggest the use of HP as a feasible tool for epidemic control, further research is warranted.
Gustavo Bracho1,*, Enrique Varela2, Rolando Ferna ́ndez3, Barbara Ordaz3, Natalia Marzoa3, Jorge Mene ́ndez4, Luis Garc ́ıa5, Esperanza Gilling6, Richard Leyva7, Reynaldo Ruf ́ın8, Rube ́n de la Torre9, Rosa L Solis10, Niurka Batista5, Reinier Borrero5 and Concepcio ́n Campa1
Homeopathy (2010) 99, 156-166
2010 The Faculty of Homeopathy