Homeopathy & Infections

UK comp.med. GPs prescribed 22% fewer antibiotics

Nov 23, 2023

Antimicrobial Awareness Week has been ‘rebranded’ as World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week (WAAW) this year, with the theme of Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance Together.

In Australia, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) began to affect all reserve antibiotics in 20161 and meanwhile in 2023, New Zealand still lacks national guidance or strategy to support judicious antimicrobial use in humans, animals, and plants, and a system to monitor their use.2

Homeopathy shows potential for significant reduction in the use of antibiotics.345

The Weiermayer et al., (2020) Overview6 clarified level 1a studies and provided level 1a, 1b, and 2c evidence of the general effectiveness for human and veterinary homeopathy, particularly in the treatment of infections.

Fixsen A, 2018;7 20138 (Literature review; Systematic review)
Van der Werf et al., 20189 (Retrospective cross-sectional analysis)
Bell and Boyer, 201310 (Peer reviewed paper)
Sinha et al., 201211 (Double-blind placebo-controlled trial)

Five of six meta-analyses up to 2014 concluded that the effectiveness of homeopathic therapy differs from placebo.1213141516

Hamre et al., (2023) found the quality of evidence for positive effects of homoeopathy beyond placebo (high/moderate/low/very low) was high for Individualized homeopathy.17

One systematic review with meta-analysis,18 the second Australian NHMRC Report,19 and the EASAC Statement20 - where more than 90% of studies were excluded, did not show any effectiveness of homeopathy beyond placebo.

Interestingly, a 2013 review confirmed that more than 90% of studies must be excluded to be able to find homeopathy ineffective.21

https://www.nps.org.au/news/antibiotic-resistance-in-australia-here-and-now

The Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor. 2021. Kotahitanga Uniting Aotearoa against infectious disease and antimicrobial resistance. Full report. Auckland. Available from: https://bpb-ap se2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.auckland.ac.nz/dist/f/688/files/2022/06/OPMCSA-AMR-Full-report-FINAL-V3-PDF.pdf

Van der Werf et al., 2018. Do NHS GP surgeries employing GPs additionally trained in integrative or complementary medicine have lower antibiotic prescribing rates? Retrospective cross-sectional analysis of national primary care prescribing data in England in 2016. BMJ Open. Mar 5;8(3):e020488. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29555793/

Fixsen. 2013. Should homeopathy be considered as part of a treatment strategy for otitis media with effusion in children? Homeopathy. Apr;102(2):145-50. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23622265/

Bell and Boyer. 2013. Homeopathic medications as clinical alternatives for symptomatic care of acute otitis media and upper respiratory infections in children. Glob Adv Health Med. Jan;2(1):32-43. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24381823/

WEIERMAYER ET AL., 2020. EVIDENCE-BASED HOMEOPATHY AND VETERINARY HOMEOPATHY, AND ITS POTENTIAL TO HELP OVERCOME THE ANTI-MICROBIAL RESISTANCE PROBLEM - AN OVERVIEW. SCHWEIZ ARCH TIERHEILKD. OCT;162(10):597-615. Available from: https://sat.gstsvs.ch/de/sat/sat-artikel/archiv/2020/102020/evidence-based-homeopathy-and-veterinary-homeopathy-and-its-potential-to-help-overcome-the-antimic.html

Fixsen, 2018. Homeopathy in the Age of Antimicrobial Resistance: Is It a Viable Treatment for Upper Respiratory Tract Infections? Homeopathy. May;107(2):99-114. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29767829/

Sinha et al., 2012. Randomized controlled pilot study to compare Homeopathy and Conventional therapy in Acute Otitis Media. Homeopathy. 2012 Jan;101(1):5-12. PMID: 22226309

Kleijnen, J., Knipschild, P., Ter Riet, G. (1991): Clinical trials of homeopathy. BMJ 302(6772): 316-23. Available from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1827743/

Linde et al., 1997. Are the clinical effects of homeopathy placebo effects? A meta-analysis of placebo-controlled trials. Lancet 350(9081): 834–843. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9310601/

Linde et al, 1999. Impact of study quality on outcome in placebo-controlled trials of homeopathy. J Clin Epidemiol 52(7): 631–636. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10391656/

Cucherat et al., 2000. Evidence of clinical efficacy of homeopathy. A meta-analysis of clinical trials. HMRAG. Homeopathic Medicines Research Advisory Group. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 56(1): 27–33. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10853874/

Mathie et al., 2014. Randomised placebo-controlled trials of individualised homeopathic treatment: systematic review and meta-analysis. Syst Rev 3: 142. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25480654/

Hamre HJ, Glockmann A, von Ammon K, Riley DS, Kiene H. 2023. Efficacy of homoeopathic treatment: Systematic review of meta-analyses of randomised placebo-controlled homoeopathy trials for any indication. Syst Rev. Oct 7;12(1):191. Available from: https://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13643-023-02313-2#Abs1

Shang et al., 2005. Are the clinical effects of homeopathy placebo effects? Comparative study of placebo-controlled trials of homeopathy and allopathy. Lancet 366(9487): 726–32. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16125589/

NHMRC Information Paper, Evidence on the effectiveness of homeopathy for treating health conditions. 2015. Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council. Canberra, Australia. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/resources/homeopathy

European Academies Science Advisory Council. Homeopathic products and practices: assessing the evidence and ensuring consistency in regulating medical claims in the EU, 2017. Halle, Deutschland. (letzter Zugriff 20.7.2020).

Hahn, 2013. Homeopathy: meta-Analysis of pooled clinical data. Forsch Komplement 20(5): 376–81. Available from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24200828/

Evidence Based Homeopathy?

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