Minutus

The problem is no one outside that list would know where to look. As I think of it, what homeopath in the trenches would have time to look at such a list. At the same time, there is no basis for recognition of the work that they do either. Unless such as effort were funded from outside, it could never happen.
best,
Ellen

Hi, Ellen.
Any flu outbreak will quickly be recognized, since transmission is person to person, and rapid. Then the challenge will be to find the "genus epidemicus" so that it can be used to treat patients and also protect people who've been exposed. In lesser flu or other minor viral epidemics of the sort that happen frequently, finding the remedy is generally a pretty quick process after seeing a few folks with the illness and learning its major features, and then giving it prophylactically to others exposed is amazingly effective. That's a homeopathic "magic trick" that brings a lot of satisfaction.
Typhus-like or typhoid-like illnesses can indeed appear epidemic. For instance, in places where people are closely packed in, such as some dormitories, shelters, army quarters in war areas, a hatch of mites that have been infected and then bitten a bunch of people can cause many people at once to get a typhus-like illness. Or tainted food, again in close quarters (such as a ship, where reprovisioning can be infrequent or difficult), can cause a whole bunch of folks to get the same illness at once. Again, does this sort of thing qualify as an "epidemic?" It probably resembles one closely enough that it doesn't matter. Most people will respond to the same remedy, once it's determined.
For sporadic outbreaks typical of certain areas and not others (like the distribution of lyme disease or spotted fever) the usual term used is not "epidemic" but "endemic" -- referring to diseases prevalent in a particular region or population. "Epidemic" refers to a disease that develops and spreads rapidly through infectious transmission. In both cases, from a homeopathic standpoint, the disease, once recognized, being caused by an external agent, can be treated with a "genus epidemicus" approach for its initial manifestations. That's where it would pay off to be aware of the diseases "endemic" to one's locality or population, so that when someone begins to manifest one of them, the homeopath can recognize it quickly and know the usual remedies that are effective against it.
Rosemary

Hi Ellen,

Yes, I see what you are saying. Would you be interested in organizing a data base?

Leilanae

Dear Rosemary,

I am hearing about endemic diseases for the first time. I have heard only a lecture on lyme udisease but given by the homeopath wife of Paul Herscu ???. Clearly each individual had a different remedy. But you are talking about situations where the same group of say fleas is biting a group living in the same dorm. Then the cause of the disease is all the same like a flu epidemic. I am a confused.

Blessings,
Ellen

Dear Ellen
Please read Aph 100-104 of the ORGANON!

Regards

Soroush

Hi Soroush,

So if you don't get a clear "totality of symptoms" that fit a number of people (even with the same locality where they were exposed) no matter what the disease name it, you don't have an epidemic? If the totality of symptoms is obvious among a number of people, then regardless of the details of exposure, you have an epidemic?

Although in the Organon Hahnemann is writing about pathogenic causes of disease, theoretically at least, the "disease" source could be toxic exposure as well as a pathogenic source? The point is, the result is overwhelmingly powerful so the result is the same regardless of constitutional biological variety among affected patients.

Best,
Ellen

Dear Ellen
I am not quite sure what is the point that you are making.
When a large section of a population succumbs to a 'disease' we call it an epidemic. In such circumstances, there is often a main GE and there are minor ones. So when you see a patient suffering from the general symptoms of the disease, you then differentiate by asking just a few questions.
When you examine the effect of micro-organisms, the symptoms generated is as a result of the toxins they manage to produce. So in effect, there is not a great deal of difference.

Regards

Soroush

Yes, that was what I thought, but I was not sure. After all, it does not follow a layperson's "Common sense" but I think it is very Hahnamannian. The basic idea is what overwhelms the vital force in a very gross way, such as toxins or an epidemic disease will require the same remedy despite differences in constitution etc..
Thanks,
Ellen

Hn tell us not to 'imagine' what is internally causing the symptoms. Whatever the cause may be, just take the symptoms.
Read Fn to Aph 1

Regards

Soroush

So basically... He tells us not to do what he has done--in
discovering (those who believe him to be wrong would call it
"imagining") such causes as miasm, maintaining causes, etc.?
)
Shannon