If anything in this world is poised to take over when we humans have polluted ourselves into extinction, it’s most likely a virus. Well, cockroaches are probably right up there on the evolutionary chain, but who knows?
The virus, however, is absolutely amazing in its ability to evolve, through successive mutations, into ever more virulent forms. Its main mission, like most living things, is to reproduce itself, and for this it needs a host. But not a dead-end host. In other words, it needs to mutate in a way that allows it to cross host species.
So it is with the H5N1 virus, the dreaded “bird flu,” a little clump of eight segments of RNA enclosed in protein capsules surrounded by a globular envelope of proteins. A microscopic hedgehog-looking thingy.
In between outbreaks of avian flu, the virus lives in ducks and a few other aquatic birds. But since it was discovered in 1996, it’s learned to hop among other species. What it hasn’t learned so far is how to spread from human to human. Relatively few humans have contracted it from handling infected birds. Now migrating wild birds have spread the virus to domestic flocks in Europe, spreading fears of a pandemic.
Medical intervention is still limited to antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza, which work best if taken within 48 hours of infection. Not always easy to do.
So scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital are developing a reverse genetic process to create a “master seed” for vaccine manufacturing. Erich Hoffmann, Ph.D., says this is done by tinkering with a virus’ genes to create a benign virus like the ones found in nature. This produces a genetically modified harmless strain that grows well in chicken eggs and is an optimal vaccine strain. Currently in clinical trials, the vaccine seems to be effective but is more difficult to manufacture than ordinary vaccines. Only one dose of vaccine per egg rather than 10 doses for other flu vaccines. Way too slow if a pandemic were to break out this year.
There is also the possibility that H5N1 will become resistant to Tamiflu and other antiviral drugs in the way that strains of bacterial diseases have become resistant to antibiotics, mostly through inappropriate use in children with viral infections like ear aches and overuse in factory-farmed poultry and livestock. In the same way, resistance to the antiviral drug Amantadine is believed to have developed in China where it was given to chickens to prevent an outbreak.
Daunting as developing vaccines and treatments may be, there is optimism from other quarters. A historian of homeopathy, Julian Winston, reports that during the 1918 pandemic of Spanish flu that killed around 50 million people, victims treated by conventional practice had only a 70 percent chance of survival while homeopaths were saving 99 percent of their patients.
Today, homeopaths say that even if Tamiflu proves deadly to H5N1, patients could build up resistance or spur the virus to mutate into more powerful strains. Some even say that people who take Tamiflu (as a preventative) are actually posing a public health threat. Like Typhoid Mary?
Since homeopathic remedies treat symptoms rather than specific viruses, there’s no worry about which strain of flu is causing the disease. Cheap and easier to produce than vaccines, homeopathic remedies made from natural substances and pure water could have an immediate and significant effect on avian flu regardless of the virus’ mutations. And adverse reactions are virtually nonexistent. The highly diluted substances are well tolerated by young children and the elderly, those most at risk from all types of flu. Mostly they work by stimulating the immune system.
Although the mainstream medical establishment in this country tends to brand homeopathic success as merely the placebo effect, Europeans generally accept the remedies as useful. In France, where most pharmacies carry homeopathic remedies, a survey of the solution Influenzinum found 90 percent of those who took it were able to avoid a common flu. Among those who already had the flu, homeopathic remedies were favored three to one.
In this country, homeopathics are sold at health food stores and some pharmacies. Oscillococcinum, a flu remedy produced by the French company Boiron, is widely available here and is recommended for children aged two and older. It causes no drowsiness and no drug interactions. Three doses taken six hours apart at the onset of symptoms usually does the trick, but can be continued the second day without fear of overdose.
Since antiviral drugs, like antibiotics, have the potential to increase the threat of a pandemic, homeopathics would seem to be a better choice. At least they would do no harm. Like chicken soup, maybe.
And the proverbial ounce of prevention would be worth a pound of Tamiflu. So don’t play with ducks. And if you raise hens for their eggs, keep them protected from migratory birds. We may even have to rethink free-range chicken.
Beats giving up the territory to viruses and cockroaches.