Reply to Thomas

We thank Drew Thomas for his comments on our paper on the effects of homeopathic treatment on sheep parasitized with Haemonchus contortus.[ ¹ ] We respond below.

The fecal egg count (FEC) and larvae per gram of feces (LPGF) were log 10(x + 1) transformed to normalize variance. The means of the treatment groups were compared by analysis of variance by the SAS general linear models (GLM) procedure, using Software Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) (version 12). Follow-up comparisons were performed by the Tukey test. Correlation between values from different parameters was calculated within each group using Pearson's correlation coefficient. The Tukey test compares any two means: a trial with 05 treatments and experimental groups yields 10 contrasts. The Tukey test generally is applied at the level of 5% of probability and our study had values of <0.05 for LPGF favouring homeopathy for this important measure of parasite load.

The Pearson correlation coefficient measures the degree of correlation (and its direction—positive or negative) between two variables. This coefficient, usually represented by “r” is always between −1 and +1. ≥0.70 (positive or negative) indicates a strong correlation. 0.30–0.7 is considered a moderate correlation and <0.30 is considered a weak correlation. We observed that the experimental group treated with homeopathy had for the variables FEC:haematocrit r = 0.656, FEC:Hb r = 0.834, Globulin:IgG r = 0.610, indicating moderate to strong correlation between haematological, immunological and parasitological parameters in animals infected with Haemonchus contortus. We described the results of the statistical analysis, and reported when there was or was not statistical significance in these correlations.

In any scientific research, the general procedure is to formulate hypotheses and verify them, directly or through its consequences, statistical analysis of the observations is essential to allow for the effects of unmeasured factors that cause the variation. These effects, may be unknown individually and tend to mask or skew the effect of the treatment on study. However, the ability to interpret the information (social, economic and environmental impacts) should be considered subject to partial and limited judgments.

The greatest challenge today in the control of gastrointestinal parasites of goats and sheep is the emergence of resistance to antihelminthic drugs. Homeopathy is a promising alternative, along with other lines of research, including herbal products, pastures management and breeding of animals resistant to parasitism. The World Health Organisation considers veterinary products important vehicles of contamination of the food chain which may contaminate meat, eggs and milk. Some veterinary products, in feces are lethal to insects and microorganism responsible for their decomposition. Homeopathic products being highly diluted do not generate residues in the food chain or pollute the environment. The ease of use of homeopathic medication prevents stress provoked by the containment of the animals when treated with other medicines. Veterinary homeopathy therefore meets the criteria of sustainability and the result of our work shows that it can enhance parasitic control. Two recent studies have described the effect of the homeopathy in immunomodulation.[ ^2,3 ]

We thank Drew Thomas for his comments, but we did not find anything of major relevance or significance to correct. It is true that there was an error in transcription of the tables to the text concerning the correlations of Hb:FEC correlation: it should have been 0.834, not 0.893 but both are in the same range of strong correlation, so this does not change the outcome of our work.

A growing number of sheep and goat farmers using the products tested in this study in our state of Bahia and in Brazil as a whole, with good results. We recognize the limitations of our study and will bear Drew Thomas's remarks in mind in our future publications and will be happy to exchange experience and technical information on parasite control in animals with him.

• References

• 1 Zacharias F., Guimarães J.E., Araújo R.R. et al. Effect of homeopathic medicines on helminth parasitism and resistance of Haemonchus contortus infected sheep. Homeopathy 2008; 97: 145-151.
• 2 Lopes L., Godoy L.M.F., de Oliveira C.C., Gabardo J., Schadeck R.J. de Freitas Buchi. Phagocytosis, endosomal/lysosomal system and other cellular aspects of macrophage activation by Canova medication. Micron 2006; 37: 277-287.
• 3 Sato D., Wal R., de Oliveira C.C. et al. Histopathological and immunophenotyping studies on normal and sarcoma 180-bearing mice treated with a complex homeopathic medication. Homeopathy 2005; 94: 26-32.