Clinical and immune response to homeopathic treatment among HIV patients: case report

Resumo

Untreated HIV-infected individuals progress into severe immune dysfunction. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) increases the survival of patients, however, it is associated with considerable adverse effects. We conducted a study from 2014 to 2016 with 19 HIV-infected adults, not using ART and with CD4+ cell count ≥500/mm³, to investigate the effectiveness of individualized homeopathic treatment to prevent the progression of infection into the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In the present article we report one randomly selected case to describe the results achieved and the difficulties we met in the management of the patient within the national health system. Homeopathic treatment was followed by clinical and emotional improvement (49.9%) as well as of the immune status upon comparison of the results of tests before and at the end of homeopathic treatment, including increase of CD4+ (60.4%) and CD8+ (58.2%) cells, reduction of the viral load (13.1%), increase of anti-inflammatory and reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines. These results favor the hypothesis of the effectiveness of homeopathic treatment in HIV patients, therefore, as a potentially promising therapeutic strategy for preventing the progression of infection into AIDS. Nevertheless, other studies, especially randomized, double-blind clinical trials are needed to confirm these results.