Homeopathy versus antibiotics in metaphylaxis of infectious diseases: A clinical study in pig fattening and its significance to consumers

Contest Due to the conditions of modern industrial pig fattening in intensi ve livestock farms, 24% to 69% of the animals become ill. The antibiotic me taphylaxis that is routinely administered leads to several problems in anim als, human health, and the environment. Objective To investigate whether a homeopathic metaphylaxis is effective an d potentially useful for replacing antibiotic metaphylaxis. Design. Animal subjects were divided into groups of 10 per pen, 2 pens shar ing 1 trough. Twenty pigs were randomly assigned within a stall and were ad ministered either antibiotics, homeopathy, or placedo. Setting A typical intensive livestock farm in Northern Germany. Participants 1440 piglets. Intervention Homeopathic metaphylaxis is compared with placedo, the routine low-dose antibiotic metaphylaxis, and an antibiotic metaphylaxis in therap eutic dosage. Main Outcome Measures Incidence of diseases in general and of diseases of t he respiratory tract. Results Homeopathic metaphylaxis is significantly effective compared with p lacebo and routine low-dose antibiotic metaphylaxis for incidence of diseas e and rate of disease of the respiratory tract among the animals studied. O nly by increasing the dosage of antibiotics to a therapeutic level does ant ibiotic metaphylaxis surpass homeopathic metaphylaxis. Conclusions An unacceptably high percentage of pigs in modern the respirato ry tract. The routine antibiotic dosage of metaphylaxis is too low to be ef fective. As a result, the problems of resistance and danger to human health and the environment are increasing. To confirm whether antibiotic metaphyl axis may be replaced by homeopathic metaphylaxis, this study should be repe ated independently.