Behandling af mastitis hos kvæg med homøopati

Comparative efficacy of homeopathic and allopathic systems of medicine in the management of clinical mastitis of Indian dairy cows.

Varshney JP, Naresh R.

Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar-243 122, India .

Mastitis is the major problem of dairy animals despite a number of preventive and therapeutic approaches. Treatment is costly and out of reach of farmers of developing countries like India . The treatment cost of bovine mastitis with conventional treatment has been calculated. Good results have been claimed with homeopathic treatment however, treatment costs are not available. This article reports the treatment economics of homeopathic drugs conventional drugs for the management of bovine mastitis. Ninety-six mastitic quarters (non-fibrosed 67 and fibrosed 29) were treated with a homeopathic combination medicine. Another 96 quarters with acute mastitis (non-fibrosed) treated with different antibiotics were included in the study. The animals were selected from dairy farm of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute and from private dairy farms. The overall effectiveness of homeopathic combination medicine in the treatment of acute non-fibrosed mastitis was 86.6% with a mean recovery period of 7.7 days (range 3-28), and total cost of therapy as Indian Rupees 21.4 (0.39 Euros, US$ 0.47). The corresponding cure rate for the antibiotic group was 59.2% with a mean recovery period of 4.5 days (range 2-15) and an average treatment cost of Rs.149.20 (2.69 Euros, US$ 3.28). We conclude that the combination of Phytolacca, Calcarea fluorica., Silica, Belladonna, Bryonia, Arnica, Conium and Ipecacuanha (Healwell VT-6) was effective and economical in the management of mastitis in lactating dairy cows.

Comparison of homeopathy, placebo and antibiotic treatment of clinical mastitis in dairy cows - methodological issues and results from a randomized-clinical trial.

Hektoen L, Larsen S, Odegaard SA, Loken T.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1439-0442.2004.00661.x

Department of Production Animal Clinical Sciences, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Pb. 8146 Dep., 0033 Oslo, Norway. lisbeth.hektoen@veths.no

Based on the widespread use of homeopathy in treatment of animal disease and the poor documentation of its possible effects and consequences, a clinical trial was carried out in order to evaluate the efficacy of homeopathy in treatment of clinical mastitis in dairy cows and a design for clinical studies on homeopathic treatment, taking into account the guidelines for randomized-clinical trials (RCT) as well as the basic principles of homeopathy. A three-armed, stratified, semi-crossover design comparing homeopathy, placebo and a standardized antibiotic treatment was used. Fifty-seven dairy cows were included. Evaluation was made by two score scales, with score I measuring acute symptoms and score II measuring chronic symptoms, and by recording the frequencies of responders to treatment based on four different responder definitions. Significant reductions in mastitis signs were observed in all treatment groups. Homeopathic treatment was not statistically different from either placebo or antibiotic treatment at day 7 (P = 0.56, P = 0.09) or at day 28 (P = 0.07, P = 0.35). The antibiotic treatment was significantly better than placebo measured by the reduction in score I (P < 0.01). Two-thirds of the cases both in the homeopathy and placebo groups responded clinically within 7 days. The outcome measured by frequencies of responders at day 28 was poor in all treatment groups. Evidence of efficacy of homeopathic treatment beyond placebo was not found in this study, but the design can be useful in subsequent larger trials on individualized homeopathic treatment.

Investigations of the motivation underlying Norwegian dairy farmers' use of homoeopathy.

Hektoen L.

Department of Production Animal Clinical Sciences, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, PB 8146 Dep, 0033 Oslo, Norway.

Eighteen Norwegian dairy farmers were interviewed to examine their reasons for using homoeopathic treatments in managing their herds' health. Overall, they chose the treatments on the basis of factors related to their personal experience, considerations of individual animals and the framework for dairy production. For individual animals homoeopathy was used as an alternative to conventional veterinary treatment, but at the herd level it was used to complement it. The farmers' use of homoeopathic treatment for personal health problems and the experience of their colleagues with its use in dairy production were important factors motivating their initial use of homoeopathy. Other factors included a desire to decrease the use of antibacterial drugs, reduce costs and find alternatives when conventional veterinary medicine provided no effective treatment. In individual cases, the severity of disease, previous experience and the farmers' personal knowledge and resources were important. These factors parallel those found to influence the use of complementary and alternative therapies in human medicine. The lack of understanding and documentation of the effects of homoeopathic remedies was not important to the farmers, and they valued personal experience more highly than scientific evidence or the opposition to homoeopathy encountered within the veterinary profession.

Evaluation of a homeopathic complex in the clinical management of udder diseases of riverine buffaloes.

Varshney JP, Naresh R.

Division of Medicine, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly , Uttar Pradesh State , India .

We report an uncontrolled observational study of the treatment of udder diseases of buffalo, using a homeopathic complex medicine. Mastitis is an economically important disease of buffaloes. In India economic losses due to mastitis are estimated at 526 million US dollars annually. Conventional veterinary treatment relies on costly antibiotics; cure rate is only 60% in field conditions with a problem of milk residues. The present investigation was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of a homeopathic complex in the management of clinical udder health problems of riverine buffaloes. Cases of subclinical mastitis were excluded from the study. A total of 102 mastitic quarters (fibrosed--40, nonfibrosed--62) and five cases each of blood in milk and udder oedema in lactating buffaloes were treated with a homeopathic complex consisting of Phytolacca 200c, Calcarea fluorica 200c, Silicea 30c, Belladona 30c, Bryonia 30c, Arnica 30c, Conium 30c and Ipecacuanha 30c. The diagnosis of udder diseases and recovery criterion was based on physical examination of udder and milk and CMT/WST score. Bacteriological analysis and somatic cell count were not performed. Treatment was 80 and 96.72% effective in cases of fibrotic mastitis and nonfibrosed mastitis respectively. Recovery period was 21-42 days (fibrosed) and 4-15 days (nonfibrosed). Udder oedema and blood in milk responded favourably in 2-5 days. Cost of treatment was 0.07 US dollars per day. The homeopathic complex medicine may be effective and economical in the management of udder health problems of buffaloes. Definitive conclusions are premature due to the limited number of observations and lack of control group.

Alternative therapy of animals--homeopathy and other alternative methods of therapy.

Loken T.

Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, P.O. Box 8146 Dep., N-0033 Oslo Norway.

Alternative therapy of animals is described, in the meaning of alternatives to veterinary therapy traditionally accepted by veterinary faculties and schools and included in their curricula. Alternative therapy composes of different disciplines, of which homeopathy is emphasised in this presentation. Information is given on the use and interest of such therapy among veterinarians and animal owners. Homeopathy as other alternative therapies, may offer great advances, if they induce any effect. Some of the disciplines are based on a scientifically accepted documentation. Others, and homeopathy in particular, are missing such a documentation of effect. The justification of including alternative therapy in treating animals is discussed. Research in alternative therapy of animals is greatly needed, in particular to evaluate therapeutic methods, which are in extensive use without any documented effect. An ongoing research project in Norway on the effect of homeopathic treatment of mastitis in cows is shortly presented.

Guidelines for prevention and therapy in ecological animal farms as in the example of bovine mastitis[Article in German]

Spranger J.

Fachgruppe Tiergesundheit und Nutztierhaltung am Forschungsinstitut fur biologischen Landbau, Frick , CH.

In ecological farming mastitis is the dominating disease in dairy cattle. The regular prophylactic use of antibiotics in farm animals is forbidden, in therapy antibiosis is restricted. A solution of this problem could be a program of systematic homeopathic prophylaxis as well as a standardised homeopathic treatment. The example of chronic catarrhal staph.-aureus-mastitis shows that there is only a certain expectancy of success by homeopathy as well as by any other medication, if the medication is combined with necessary sanitation measures. The prognosis for a homeopathic treatment is less favourable if the sanitation measures are realised incompletely. The possible negative effects of a false homeopathic medication are described.

[Is research in veterinary homeopathy justified? Thoughts concerning principles and synopsis of 5 years of research on the subject, "Use of homeopathy in domestic animals," at the branch of the Free University of Berlin in Schwarzenbek]

[Article in German]

Schutte A.

Freie Universitat Berlin , Aussenstelle Schwarzenbek.

Supported by the Karl- and Veronica-Carstens-Stiftung and Deutsche Homoopathische Union (DHU) in summer ' 87 a project dealing with homoeopathic treatment of domestic animals was initialized at the field station of the Freie Universitat Berlin in Schwarzenbek. After a period of five years the studies have been completed in summer '92 and the following results were achieved:

1) Homoeopathic drugs (considering the similarity) are suitable to reduce the morbidity rate of newly housed fattening pigs effectively by metaphylactic treatments.

2) The efficiency of the combination Lachesis, Pyrogenium, Echinacea and Chlorophyll (Laseptal) for curing respiratory infections is comparable to the one of Oxytetrazycline and the combination of Sulfadimidin and Trimethoprim.

3) A significant therapeutical effect was achieved by homoeopathic treatment in dairy herds so that the use of allopathic drugs can be reduced considerably.

4) Homoeopathic drugs, including nosodes, show hardly or do not at all show a positive influence on chronic mastitis in cows, especially increased cell counts combined with latent infections of pathogenic micro-organisms.

5) Drying off cows with Phytolacca D1 only does not reduce the milk quantity or prevent the occurrence of mastitis during the non-lactating period.

6) The combination Sabina, Pulsatilla, Lachesis and Pyrogenium (proposed to improve the puerperal period after placental retention) compared with standard allopathic treatment is not suitable to improve the puerperal period or fertility after retention of placenta.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[The administration of homeopathic drugs for the treatment of acute mastitis in cattle]

[Article in German]

Merck CC, Sonnenwald B, Rollwage H.

The general principles of homeopathic therapy are described together with a number of homeopathic drugs used for the treatment of acute bovine mastitis. Fifty cows with acute mastitis were used in the study. The initial treatment comprised aconitum D 4, phytolacca D 1 and bryonia D 4. In subsequent treatments phytolacca D 1, bryonia D 4 and lachesis D 8 either singly or in combination were used; mercurius solubilis D 4 was also used. Encouraging results, especially in the treatment of cases of E.coli mastitis, were achieved.