A Review of Homoeopathic Research in the Prevention and Treatment of Dengue Fever

Abstract

Introduction Dengue ranks as the most important mosquito-borne viral disease in the world, with its incidence being increased 30-fold in the past 50 years. An epidemic of dengue/dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) is a major public health problem causing significant health and economic burden. The dengue crisis is further complicated by the lack of vaccines and antiviral drugs for prevention and control of this disease. This systematic review investigates and evaluates various studies done with homoeopathic therapy for the prevention and treatment of dengue fever.

Objective Evaluate the usefulness of homoeopathy for a prevention and treatment of dengue fever through literature review and to develop the strategy for future research.

Method A comprehensive search in electronic database aimed to target the available literature of observational studies, randomised trials, controlled trials, case studies on dengue fever in homoeopathy (excluding non–peer-reviewed journals) and limited to English language.

Result A literary search through various databases helped identify a few significant studies as one double-blind placebo-controlled trial, one comparative clinical study, one case study and two community-based studies.

The community-based studies showed positive results for the role of homoeopathic medicines as a prophylactic medicine. The double-blind placebo-controlled trial showed no difference in outcome between the two groups. The comparative clinical study showed that the homoeopathic combination appeared to be a more potent treatment against dengue fever when compare with standard maintenance therapy. The case study shows favourable results, but the sample size is only of 10 cases.

Conclusion In future, high-quality randomised controlled trial (RCT), vitro and animal model studies are required to support the efficacy of homoeopathic therapeutics.

Keywords

dengue - homoeopathic treatment - systematic review

• References

• 1 World Health Organization—Impact of Dengue. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dengue-and-severe-dengue . Accessed February 23, 2019
• 2 WHO –Dengue Fact Sheet. http://www.searo.who.int/entity/vector_borne_tropical_diseases/data/data_factsheet/en . Accessed February 23, 2019
• 3 Bhatt S, Gething PW, Brady OJ. , et al. The global distribution and burden of dengue. Nature 2013; 496 (7446): 504-507
• 4 https://www.cdc.gov/Dengue/ . Accessed February 24, 2019
• 5 World Health Organization. Dengue: Guidelines for Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention and Control. https://www.who.int/tdr/publications/documents/dengue-diagnosis.pdf . Accessed February 24, 2019
• 6 Chakravarti A, Arora R, Luxemburger C. Fifty years of dengue in India. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 2012; 106 (05) 273-282
• 7 Kakkar M. Dengue fever is massively under-reported in India, hampering our response. BMJ 2012; 345: e8574
• 8 Shepard DS, Halasa YA, Tyagi BK. , et al; The Inclen Study Group. Economic and disease burden of dengue illness in India. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2014; 91 (06) 1235-1242
• 9 Mustafa MS, Rasotgi V, Jain S, Gupta V. Discovery of fifth serotype of dengue virus (DENV-5): a new public health dilemma in dengue control. Med J Armed Forces India 2015; 71 (01) 67-70
• 10 https://www.cdc.gov/dengue/symptoms/ . Accessed February 24, 2019
• 11 Subenthiran S, Choon TC, Cheong KC. , et al. Carica papaya leaves juice significantly accelerates the rate of increase in platelet count among patients with dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2013; 2013: 616737
• 12 Guidelines for Homoeopathic Practitioners for Clinical Management of Dengue Fever. 1st ed. http://ayush.gov.in/sites/default/files/CCRH_0.pdf . Accessed February 24, 2019
• 13 Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy. New Delhi, India: CCRH News; 1996. –1997
• 14 Marino R. Homeopathy and collective health: the case of dengue epidemics. Int J High Dilution Res 2008; 7: 179-185
• 15 Nunes L, Reynaldo AS, Amorim MH, Zandonade E, Salume S. Contribution of homeopathy to the control of an outbreak of dengue in Macaé, Rio de Janeiro. Int J High Dilution Res 2008; 7: 186-192
• 16 Novaes AR. Homeopathic Intervention in Users Treatment Network Public Advised With Dengue in Victory, Brazil. Proceedings of 70th Congress of Liga Medicorum Homoeopathica Internationalis; 2015
• 17 Hassan S, Tariq I, Khalid A, Karim S. Comparative clinical study on the effectiveness of homeopathic combination remedy with standard maintenance therapy for dengue fever. Trop J Pharm Res 2013; 12: 767-770
• 18 Bracho G. Homoeopathy and Ultradilutions: From Basic Evidences to Practical Applications. PowerPoint Presentation at 14th Japanese Homoeopathic Medical Association (JPHMA) Congress; December 7–8, 2013
• 19 Jacobs J, Fernandez EA, Merizalde B, Avila-Montes GA, Crothers D. The use of homeopathic combination remedy for dengue fever symptoms: a pilot RCT in Honduras. Homeopathy 2007; 96 (01) 22-26
• 20 Kumar P, Clark M. Kumar & Clark's Clinical Medicine. 8th ed. Spain: Saunders Elsevier; 2012
• 21 Ching S, Ramachandran V, Gew LT. , et al. Complementary alternative medicine use among patients with dengue fever in the hospital setting: a cross-sectional study in Malaysia. BMC Complement Altern Med 2016; 16: 37
• 22 Bracho G, Varela E, Fernández R. , et al. Large-scale application of highly-diluted bacteria for Leptospirosis epidemic control. Homeopathy 2010; 99 (03) 156-166
• 23 Kent JT. Repertory of the Homoeopathic Materia Medica. Enriched Indian edition. New Delhi, India: B. Jain Publisher; Reprint edition 1989: 1452
• 24 Mahesh S, Mahesh M, Vithoulkas G. Could homeopathy become an alternative therapy in dengue fever? an example of 10 case studies. J Med Life 2018; 11 (01) 75-82