Can Ozone Therapy Treat Ebola?

By Nathaniel Altman

Author of The Oxygen Prescription

Although used by more than ten million patients in Europe since the early 1960's, the therapeutic use of medical ozone remains largely a mystery to the medical profession and to health care consumers alike. Considered as "experimental" in North America, ozone therapy has been used primarily in Europe, Asia and Cuba, where it is part of the medical mainstream. Licensed physicians have utilized ozone to treat a wide spectrum of health problems, including bacterial diseases, fungal infections, cancer, circulatory disorders, arthritis, wounds, HIV-related infections and viral infections like influenza, enterovirus and SARS.

Advocates of ozone therapy propose that it can be used to combat Ebola in three ways:

· As a primary method to treat those with Ebola symptoms, either alone or as a adjunct therapy to other treatment modalities.

· As a preventative therapy to treat those who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus but are not yet manifesting symptoms.

· Ozone gas can be used to disinfect Ebola treatment sites, as well as medical equipment or other items that may have been contaminated with the virus.

At a time when Ebola virus disease (EVD) threatens to become a worldwide pandemic, can therapeutic ozone- which is non-patentable, easy to use, inexpensive and safe- be utilized to treat ebola patients when mainstream medicine cannot?

The Ebola Threat

Ebola virus disease is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. The current ebola epidemic is believed to have been transmitted to people from wild animals in Africa , and has spread through human-to-human transmission. Mortality rates during the current epidemic are estimated to vary between 83 to 90 percent.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are no proven treatments available for EVD. However, a range of potential treatments including blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies are currently being evaluated. No licensed vaccines are available, although two potential vaccines are undergoing human safety testing. Some are currently being used on an experimental basis, with mixed results.

What is Ozone Therapy and How Does it Work?

Ozone therapy involves administering small amounts of diluted ozone into the body for the prevention and treatment of disease.

Ozone provides the body with active forms of oxygen intravenously or through the skin. Once in the body, the ozone breaks down into various oxygen subspecies which contact anaerobic viruses and microbes [i.e. viruses and microbes which have the ability to live without air], as well as diseased or deficient tissue cells. It oxidizes these cells while leaving the healthy cells alone. When the body becomes saturated with these special forms of oxygen, it reaches a state of purity wherein disease micro-organisms are killed, while the underlying toxicity is oxidized and eliminated.

The three primary mechanisms of action of therapeutic ozone include:

· The inactivation of bacteria, fungi, yeast, virus and protozoa by disrupting the integrity of the cell envelope through oxidation of the cell phospholipids and lipoproteins. Ozone also has been found to upset their reproductive cycle.

· Stimulation of oxygen metabolism, causing an increase in the red blood cell glycosis rate. It also stimulates the production of enzymes that act as free radical scavengers and cell-wall protectors.

· Activation of the immune system through the production of interferon, tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-2, which launches a cascade of beneficial immunological reactions throughout the body.

This is why Dr. Adriana Schwartz, Director of the International Medical Ozone Federation (IMEOF), an organization composed of ozone practitioners throughout the world, has appealed to the WHO to consider utilizing ozone therapy as a safe, low-cost and effective treatment for Ebola virus disease.

In a well-documented scientific report released to the healthcare community on October 7, 2014, Dr. Schwartz wrote: "It is an absolutely safe treatment that stimulates the immune system. It may be available in large quantities at low cost, even in the poorest areas of the world. The antiviral and antibacterial properties of ozone are well recognized. The Ebola virus has little chance to survive [when] directly exposed to its gas."

For the complete IMEOF report (A Possible Solution to Ebola: Ozone Therapy), visit: http://www.imeof.org/ln_eng/index.html

How is Ozone Administered?

Ozone cannot be pre-packaged, but is created on site by an ozone generator. When it comes to using ozone to treat systemic disease, there are a number of safe and effective methods. Two of these include rectal insufflation and major autohemotherapy.

Rectal insufflation: A mixture of ozone and oxygen is introduced through the rectum. It was once believed that the ozone was absorbed into the body through the intestine. In fact, ozone reacts with the luminal content immediately and only some of the generated chemicals produced during the reaction are absorbed: this has been scientifically measured both in the portal and general circulation by Dr. Velio Bocci and his colleagues at the University of Siena in Italy.

Used for a wide variety of health problems—including arterial circulatory disorders, general immunoactivation, adjuvant cancer therapy, and to treat hepatitis A, B and C -- this method is considered one of the safest. Typically, between 100-800 ml of oxygen and ozone (for an average adult of normal body weight) is insufflated into the rectum, a process that takes between ninety seconds and two minutes.

This method has been recommended by the International Medical Ozone Foundation to treat Ebola patients.

Major Autohemotherapy: Major autohemotherapy (MAHT) typically calls for the removal of up to 250 ml of the patient's blood. Ozone and oxygen are added carefully (to avoid bubbling) into the blood for several minutes, and then the ozonated blood is reintroduced into the vein in the form of an IV drip.

Like rectal insufflation described above, MAHT has been found to activate red blood cell metabolism, increase ATP production and oxygen release, activate the immune system with the release of cytokins (such as interferon and interleukins), aid in immune system modulation, and increase the body’s antioxidant capacity. For these reasons, it has been used successfully to treat a wide variety of health problems, including herpes, arthritis, cancer, circulatory disorders and HIV-infection. It is probably the most commonly used type of ozone therapy today. Although MAHT may be as effective as rectal insufflation when treating Ebola patients, this method takes longer to administer and is not as cost-effective.

The only routes of ozone administration that are strictly prohibited are inhalation (which is toxic to the respiratory tract) and Direct IV injection, which can cause embolism. Direct IV injection is currently illegal in Europe.

What is Ozone's Way to Healing?

Ozone is a form of superactive oxygen. When it comes in contact with blood inside an ozone-resistant glass bottle ex vivo (that is the preparative phase of autohemotherapy), it immediately reacts with blood plasma and other body fluids, such as those found in the skin and the mucous membranes, thus generating a number of chemical “messengers” like antioxidants and polyunsaturated fatty acids.

This reaction yields two results: the production of hydrogen peroxide (along with other chemicals collectively known in scientific literature as reactive oxygen species or ROS) and lipid oxidation products (called LOPS).

The ROS are believed to be responsible for immediate negative biological effects, such as free radical production. However, within a few seconds and the oxidized antioxidants are recycled back in reduced form, leading to more positive biological effects. Over time, the ROS target the erythrocytes (red blood cells containing hemoglobin whose main job is to transport oxygen), resulting in improved oxygen delivery to the body; the leukocytes (blood cells whose main job is to engulf and digest bacteria and fungi), thus stimulating immune system activation; and the blood platelets, which stimulate the release of growth factors, which are substances made by the body that regulate cell division and cell survival.

The biological effects of their “partner” LOPS are both positive and more long-term. Through the continual circulation of blood, LOPS can reach virtually any organ of the body, and stimulate important biological functions like the generation of cells with improved biochemical characteristics (“supergifted erythrocytes” with the ability to deliver more oxygen to ischemic tissues) and the upregulation of antioxidant enzymes in the blood. Antioxidant enzymes have been found to neutralize oxidative stress, perhaps explaining some of the extraordinary clinical results of ozone therapy. Researchers like Dr. Velio Bocci also believe that LOPS can mobilize endogenous stem cells [stem cells already inside the body], which can promote regeneration of ischemic heart tissue (tissues of the body damaged by heart disease) and other tissues.

Is Ozone Therapy Safe?

Although ozone is highly toxic in its purified state, it has been found to be both safe and effective when diluted to therapeutic levels for medical use. When administered in prescribed amounts by a qualified practitioner, the chances of experiencing adverse reactions to oxidative therapies are extremely small. For example, an early German study on 384,775 patients evaluating the adverse side effects of over five million medically-administered ozone treatments found that the rate of adverse side effects was only 0.0007 per application. The main dangers were through the use of direct intravenous ozone injection, now prohibited in Europe . This figure is far lower than any other type of medical therapy.

It has been estimated that over ten million people (primarily in Germany , Russia and Cuba ) have been given ozone therapy over the past seventy years to treat over fifty different diseases. They include heart and blood vessel diseases, diseases of the lungs, joint diseases, infectious diseases, and immune-related disorders. In some cases, ozone therapy is administered alone, while in others, it isused in addition to traditional medical procedures (such as surgery or chemotherapy) or as an adjunct to alternative health practices like megavitamin therapy, acupuncture or herbal medicine.

Resistance to Ozone Therapy by the Medical Establishment

Despite the fact that ozone therapy has been proven in clinical trials (and in regular clinical practice) to be safe and effective in Germany, Austria, Cuba, Mexico, Italy and Russia, very few people have heard about bio-oxidative therapies in the United States and Canada. Although an estimated 15,000 European physicians legally use ozone therapy in their practices, the number of physicians using it in North America is probably fewer than 300. This is partly due to the fact that information about medical ozone is not provided in medical schools, and students simply do not learn about it. In addition, the medical establishment (and especially provincial and state medical boards) often discourages or prevents licensed physicians from using medical ozone in their practices.

A major reason for this lack of interest is that ozone is a non-patentable substance that is inexpensive to manufacture and use. In Germany , Russia and Cuba , physicians have successfully treated many serious and chronic conditions without expensive surgery. The net cost of the materials for a treatment of rectal insufflation is probably under $10. Even though physicians must include professional fees and the use of their offices and equipment, ozone therapy administered in a medical setting cost up to fifty percent less than traditional therapies, especially for patients suffering from chronic and degenerative diseases. Self-administered treatments by patients themselves, while not recommended, can cost far less.

For these reasons, ozone poses a threat to the continued dominance of the medical establishment: the pharmaceutical industry, medical centers and physicians who are accustomed to providing expensive drugs, complex medical procedures and long hospital stays.

Why Ozone?

When used according to established protocols, medical ozone can:

1. Kill the Ebola virus

2. Reduce the patient's level of oxidative stress brought on by the disease

3. Reduce patient pain and discomfor due to its analgesic properties

4. Boost the patient's overall immune system

5. Help maintain a sterile environment in the hospital or clinic

Dealing with a major health threat like Ebola is a major challenge to humanity. When effectrive treatments are not available - or are beyond the financial means of patients and caregivers- it is time to consider safe, effective and inexpensive alternatives. It is time for ozone therapy to be seriously considered as one such alternative.

Notes

Elvis, A.M. and Etka, J.S., "Ozone Therapy: a clinical review" Journal of Natural Science, Biology and Medicine, Jan-Jun 2011, pp. 66-77.

Bocci, Velio, Ozone – A New Medical Drug ( Dordrecht , Netherlands : Springer, 2005), pp. 22-24, 27, 28.

Viebahn-Haensler, Renate, The Use of Ozone in Medicine, 5th English edition (Iffezheim: Odrei Publishers, 2007), pp. 44-47.

Bocci, Velio, Oxygen-Ozone Therapy: A Critical Evaluation ( Dordrecht , Netherlands : Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002), pp. 213-14.

Jacobs, Marie Theres, "Adverse Effects and Typical Complications in Ozone-Oxygen Therapy", Ozonachrichten, 1982: (1), pp. 193-201

Schwartz, Adriana, A Possible Solution to Ebola: Ozone Therapy. ( Madrid , International Medical Ozone Association, October 7, 2014). To access full article visit: http://www.imeof.org/ln_eng/index.html

Contreras, Antonio, El ebola se puede tratar con la ozonoterapia.(DiarioDigitalDominicano.com., accessed October 9, 2014)