Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Ebolavirus 2014 Outbreak - #4


Ebolavirus 2014 Outbreak
October 26, 2014 Update #4
Paul Herscu, ND, DHANP, MPH
Herscu Laboratory

DON’T PANIC! (Part 2)

We have a physician living in New York testing positive for Ebolavirus Disease (EVD) after doing great, important, inspiring work in Africa. The fear this brings up in New York makes me write sooner than later. In short, even in New York, DON’T PANIC.  It is incredibly unlikely that you will ever meet anyone who had EVD or that you will catch it.

I have had requests, for a few months now, to discuss the homeopathic management of Ebolavirus Disease. And what may seem odd is that while I have written about treatments over the past decades, discussing very specific remedies at different stages of epidemic diseases, I have not done so this time around. You may wonder why? And since I know that folks at the CDC read this, I thought I would elaborate and make further suggestions here.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Ebolavirus 2014 Outbreak - #3


Ebolavirus 2014 Outbreak
October 16, 2014 Update #3
Paul Herscu, ND, DHANP, MPH
Herscu Laboratory

DON’T PANIC!
When you turn on the news just now, there is a great deal of media attention on the Ebolavirus outbreak. And as importantly, there is a sort of hysteria in the general public, as well as in the healthcare community, including those in CAM. In this recent Kaiser poll about half of all Americans believe their family is at risk of contracting Ebola. ( http://tinyurl.com/ol6xr57)
Let me say here clearly, that unless something unusual occurs such as 1) a change in the transmission mode, as in it becoming airborne (which is a difficult thing to happen and despite what some at CDC and in the government have said, has absolutely NOT happened. Ebolavirus has not become airborne. They are wrong here, but will explain their mistake in the next post), 2) a change in vectors, as in animals that have yet to transmit to humans, and/or 3) a change in incubation time, as in a lengthening of incubation time while still being contagious (which both may be difficult to occur at the same time), there will NOT be an epidemic in the USA, in North America, or in Europe. Nor will there be a greatly widening epidemic within Africa itself. And as shocking as it seems to you just now, the average person will hardly, sadly, think about it by the end of the year. I have tried to say this in a variety of ways, but I thought I would say it again here. In essence people are worrying about the wrong thing, the wrong epidemic, the wrong focus. I hope that by reading these communiqués, you will be better prepared to handle the media, assess the information you hear, and not become overly anxious because of hyped up media offerings. As promised, I wanted to discuss treatments that occur at this time. 

As mentioned in the first post, aside from treatment aimed at supportive care, we have at least two major pathways for treatmentantivirals and plasma products. While no drug is yet approved, there are a host of medications being tested. 

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Ebolavirus 2014 Outbreak - #2


Ebolavirus 2014 Outbreak
October 13, 2014 Update #2
Paul Herscu, ND, MPH
Herscu Laboratory

It has been 2 weeks since I posted September Ebolavirus 2014 Outbreak, comments and outlook; a great deal has taken place since then. If you have not already read the original post, please take time to read as this update elaborates upon that original post.
My central goal in presenting these comments and outlooks is to create a framework that allows future information to be properly analyzed and placed within a realistic context. In so doing, it allows us to better predict future events. In short, having a structure enables future findings, future investigations, and thereby future actions to more appropriately match needs on the ground. We have had a case spread in the USA and a case spread in Spain. However, by clearly understanding the situation, we can limit anxiety for everyone, while we create a pathway for action. So, with that in mind, let’s dive into where we are as of now, working off of my original post, taking topic areas one at a time, and seeing how more or less we are right on target.