By Jiuan Heng, New York HP Supervisor,

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral disease causing fever and severe joint pain, headache, fatigue, nausea and rash. First reported in Africa in 1952 it found its way to the Americas (Carribean) for the first time in 2013. There is no vaccine, and no drugs for the disease beyond antipyretics to relieve the fever and aching. Some cases of chikungunya go on to become chronic, leading to permanent joint pain, neurological and heart complications, and impaired vision.

In the spring of 2014, Homeopaths without Borders started to see cases of chikungunya in Haiti. They took cases even before they arrived, with the Homéopathes Communautaires (the local public health representatives). acting as their eyes and ears on the ground. The genus epidemicus that covered the characteristic symptoms of the disease turned out to be Euporatium perfoliatum, the same as that in India which has seen epidemics of chikungunya in the 60s, 70s, and more recently, in 2006.

“There were 5 major remedies that we used to treat chikungunya in Haiti. But we used Eupatorium perfoliatum prophylactically.  The following remedies have also been useful in chikungunya cases (prescribed on individual bases): Rhus toxicodendron, Bryonia, Calcarea carbonicum, and Lycopodium. While we could not do a study under the circumstances we were working in, we had lots of feedback. Among those we treated prophylactically, there were either no cases of chikugunya or very mild cases compared with untreated community members,” Lauren Fox, FNP-BC, CCH, Clinical Director of Homeopaths without Borders said.

They also treated the chronic sequelae of chikungunya with dramatic relief for people who had been suffering for months. (http://www.hwbna.org/chikungunya-in-the-caribbean.html).

Viruses mutate, and homeopathy, which works with symptoms, not predictions, can respond nimbly to determine a remedy that matches the evolution of the disease. “The genus epidemicus may change as the virus changes.” Lauren notes.