DDP Newsletter Vol. XLI, No. 1
It is an article of faith that viral diseases generally cannot be treated other than with supportive care. Therefore, the only answer is vaccination to eradicate the disease.
The antibiotic stewardship campaign and the Choosing Wisely™ initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) besiege doctors with the message that antibiotics do not help with viral diseases, and overprescribing promotes bacterial resistance. (Indeed, antimicrobial resistance is a major threat.) This “guidance” may be enforced by quality-assurance programs that reduce errant doctors’ pay.
But what if this dogma is wrong? The COVID-19 pandemic showed the disastrous results of denying treatment until the patient was hypoxic and then allowing only measures on the hospital protocol, regardless of patient response. Will we see a replay with bird flu or the next “new” virus? Will society be crippled while awaiting a new vaccine, perhaps now hastened by “miraculous” mRNA technology?
We now have fearmongering over a measles outbreak (300 cases as of Mar 14), with two deaths in patients “with” a positive test for measles who had not gotten their MMR shots. The CDC suggests (https://tinyurl.com/mtzdjm25) a 2-day course of high-dose vitamin A in patients with measles, and physicians note that cod liver oil is high in vitamins A and D, and carrot juice in beta-carotene that’s converted to vitamin A. Medical officials warned that vitamin A does not prevent or cure measles and that it is possible to get hypervitaminosis A (https://tinyurl.com/stpakedu). Do they mean “don’t bother”?
It is possible that zealous antibiotic stewardship contributed to the death of a young measles victim, who was reportedly treated too late for Mycoplasma pneumonia with a macrolide antibiotic routinely used for out-patient pneumonia. A large proportion of deaths from the 1918 influenza might have been from bacterial pneumonia in pre-antibiotic days.
The standard answer for an outbreak of a “vaccine-preventable” disease is to hunt down the unvaccinated and inject them, and to promote boosters for people whose immunity might have waned. But many doctors apparently forget that vaccination is for preventing disease, not for treating someone who is already sick. And what about the huge number of diseases or variants for which we have no vaccines? The responsible pathogen cannot be identified in more than half the cases of “influenza-like illness.”
In 2024, more than 127,350 measles cases were reported in the European Region, and 38 deaths. Vaccination levels are less than 80% in some areas of Europe and have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Some 359,521 cases of measles have been reported for 2024 worldwide. The disease is clearly not gone (https://tinyurl.com/5crfxbjp)–nor is it causing mass casualties.
In the days of genomics, “precision medicine” is touted as a way to fit treatment or prevention to groups of people based on information about their genes, environment, and lifestyle. It may be called “personalized medicine,” but it is not the same because of its emphasis on the group. It would be wonderful to have a drug or vaccine precisely fitted to an individual patient or disease, and immediately available sophisticated diagnostic technology, but we must remember that pathogens, being living things, adapt. Thus, what we need are ways to minimize exposure and bolster natural immunity—along with broad-spectrum antimicrobials for those who become ill.
BROAD-SPECTRUM (NON-PRECISION) METHODS
Mentioning remedies like cod liver oil may trigger condemnation by medical officialdom because they might lead to vaccine hesitancy. Of course, they are not 100% effective. It is dangerously wrong to assume, however, that Americans are not vitamin deficient. How many children eat all their fruits and vegetables? (Do you?) Have we done any large studies checking levels? Are our “minimum daily requirements” adequate? Continuing medical education presentations by Tucson medical residents, in the course of a year or two, included near-fatal cases of scurvy and beriberi (thiamine, B1 deficiency), diagnosed after a battery of costly tests failed to find the diagnosis. Mary Talley Bowden, M.D., who adds a vitamin D level whenever she draws blood, reports that 75% of her patients have low levels (https://tinyurl.com/bddumnnm).
Much of the information in the “COVID Medical Kit” in our January 2022 newsletter (https://tinyurl.com/5yc26fmm) could apply to measles, the new “disease X” (avian flu?), or other emerging or re-emerging viral illness.
Dispatches on measles from the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons are here (tinyurl.com/2jsub8wj) and here (tinyurl.com/muny4n2f). (If you wish to receive future dispatches, send a request to jane@aapsonline.org.)
Many members of the “medical freedom movement,” who came to prominence fighting the official COVID narrative, now offer a variety of supplements and kits that include some prescription drugs, based on clinicians’ opinions—which are not to be construed as medical advice. DDP cannot evaluate the claims, but a pertinent observation by “a Midwestern Doctor” is: “Over the years, we’ve tried more supplements than I can count for colds and cases of flu, and I am not sure if most of them help.” He has the most favorable opinion of olive leaf extract, elderberry extract, and vitamin C (https://tinyurl.com/5s7destj), based on personal experience.
Instead of povidone-iodine or other nasal applications, Dr. Harvey Risch prefers intranasal Neosporin (https://tinyurl.com/3rfs45sd) before and after likely respiratory virus exposures and has found it very effective. The dose is one-fourth inch on a Q-tip inserted three-fourths inch into each nostril and rotated.
The “Midwestern Doctor” (op. cit.) writes that “in many cases, I…have found the most effective approach (the moment you start feeling a bit of congestion in the head) is simply to lie on each side and put hydrogen peroxide in each ear for about 10 minutes (until it stops bubbling) then turn over and do the same with the other side (while the first ear drains out).” Early on, this may abort the illness, whereas when done later on it simply makes you feel better.
Open-air hospitals with fresh air and sunlight had substantially reduced death rates from 1918 influenza (https://tinyurl.com/ytb3z327).
Traditional or folk medicine offers many suggested remedies, such as teas, plants, and herbs, but most have not been evaluated scientifically. One exception is garlic, used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine for respiratory and digestive disorders. Recently it has been shown that allicin, the compound responsible for garlic’s odor, can deactivate viruses, including influenza B, herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2, and rhinovirus (https://tinyurl.com/29w8d7rj).
Repurposed drugs and other defenses will be covered later in Civil Defense Perspectives.