B.C. homeopath treats boy with rabid-dog spit
Product OK’d by federal government
A British Columbia homeopath who boasted of curing a child’s behavioural problems with a remedy made from the saliva of a rabid dog has prompted calls for greater oversight of alternative medicine.
Writing in the “successful clinical cases” section of her blog, Anke Zimmermann of Victoria described treating a four-year-old boy last fall who was restless, aggressive to other children, afraid of werewolves and growled at people.
After hearing the boy had been bitten by a dog at age two, Zimmermann said the prescription was clear.
“I decided to give a homeopathic remedy made from rabies,” she wrote. She speculated that the dog that bit him might have recently been vaccinated against rabies, prompting an altered state in the boy similar to a rabies infection.
“This can include over-excitability, difficulties sleeping, aggression and various fears, especially of dogs or wolves. This child presented a perfect picture of this type of rabies state,” Zimmermann wrote in a post dated Feb. 8. “Most homeopaths would have easily recognized the remedy required in this case.”
After the case came to light, B.C. provincial health officer Bonnie Henry urged the federal government to review its approval of the rabies-based remedy, known as Lyssin or Hydrophobinum.
“While some homeopathic remedies may be helpful under certain circumstances, there is no evidence that I am aware of that shows Lyssin has any therapeutic benefit,” Henry said in a statement. “More importantly, I am concerned that if a product did actually contain what is suggested, saliva from a rabid dog, that would put the patient at risk of contracting rabies, a serious, fatal illness.”
She also expressed concern that Zimmermann suggested “the vaccinating of dogs for a serious and fatal illness could have adverse health effects for humans.”
Health Canada has approved Lyssin as a natural health product — “Source Material(s): Saliva of rabid dog,” its online ingredients database says. The government approval vouches for safety, not efficacy.
Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy at the University of Alberta, said the B.C. case points to a broader problem with homeopathy. The guiding principle of homeopathy, developed in the 18th century, is that “like cures like” — that something harmful in large doses can be a cure in minute doses.
“This is a profession that often offers remedies and therapies that are completely devoid of any scientific support and, as is the case here, are scientifically absurd,” Caulfield said. He called on regulators to make clear that homeopathic therapies are unproven, as in the U.S.
Health Canada said it “takes the safety of health products on the Canadian market very seriously.” It added that it is up to the provinces to regulate the practice of homeopathic medicine.
In the U.S, the National Institutes of Health state “there is little evidence to support homeopathy as an effective treatment.”
The Federal Trade Commission has said marketing of homeopathic products should be accompanied by an indication “there is no scientific evidence that the product works” and that “the product’s claims are based only on theories of homeopathy from the 1700s that are not accepted by most modern medical experts.”
There are no such disclaimers on Zimmermann’s blog, only case after case reporting clinical success. A 15-month-old’s teething pain went away after a few doses of a remedy derived from tuberculosis bacteria, she said. A man with crippling anxiety improved after being administered a remedy made from syphilis. (She made the diagnosis after detecting clues that “one or more of his ancestors” may have had syphilis.)
Zimmermann was not available for comment Wednesday.