TY - JOUR AU - Mukherjee, Shyamal Kumar; Ganguly, Subhasish; Das, Satadal; Chatterjee, Kalyan Kumar; Naskar, Kisor Kumar; Dey, Samit; Choudhury, Saptarshi; Paul, Amitava; Sarkar, Sasanka Sekhar; Bhattacharyya, Soumya; Sengupta, Sumana; Alam, Sk. Monsur; Bhattacharya, Pulakendu; Naskar, Satyajit; Mukherjee, Sudeshna; Shamim, Saima; Mandal, Dibyendu; Sardar, Sudeshna; Sarkar, Sanjib; Ray, Benoy; Gole, Raghubir; Dey, Avijit; Bhattacharya, Chanchal; Saha, Subhranil TI - Homeopathic Medicines Used as Prophylaxis in Kolkata during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Community-Based, Cluster-Randomized Trial SN - 1475-4916 SN - 1476-4245 PY - 2021 JO - Homeopathy JF - Homeopathy LA - EN VL - 111 IS - 02 SP - 097 EP - 104 DA - 2021/10/29 KW - COVID-19 KW - homeopathy KW - placebo KW - prophylaxis KW - cluster-randomized controlled trial AB - Introduction There is some evidence that homeopathic treatment has been used successfully in previous epidemics, and currently some countries are testing homeoprophylaxis for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. There is a strong tradition of homeopathic treatment in India: therefore, we decided to compare three different homeopathic medicines against placebo in prevention of COVID-19 infections.Methods In this double-blind, cluster-randomized, placebo-controlled, four parallel arms, community-based, clinical trial, a 20,000-person sample of the population residing in Ward Number 57 of the Tangra area, Kolkata, was randomized in a 1:1:1:1 ratio of clusters to receive one of three homeopathic medicines (Bryonia alba 30cH, Gelsemium sempervirens 30cH, Phosphorus 30cH) or identical-looking placebo, for 3 (children) or 6 (adults) days. All the participants, who were aged 5 to 75 years, received ascorbic acid (vitamin C) tablets of 500 mg, once per day for 6 days. In addition, instructions on healthy diet and general hygienic measures, including hand washing, social distancing and proper use of mask and gloves, were given to all the participants.Results No new confirmed COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in the target population during the follow-up timeframe of 1 month—December 20, 2020 to January 19, 2021—thus making the trial inconclusive. The Phosphorus group had the least exposure to COVID-19 compared with the other groups. In comparison with placebo, the occurrence of unconfirmed COVID-19 cases was significantly less in the Phosphorus group (week 1: odds ratio [OR], 0.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.06 to 0.16; week 2: OR, 0.004; 95% CI, 0.0002 to 0.06; week 3: OR, 0.007; 95% CI, 0.0004 to 0.11; week 4: OR, 0.009; 95% CI, 0.0006 to 0.14), but not in the Bryonia or Gelsemium groups.Conclusion Overall, the trial was inconclusive. The possible effect exerted by Phosphorus necessitates further investigation.Trial registration: CTRI/2020/11/029265. PB - Georg Thieme Verlag KG DO - 10.1055/s-0041-1734026 UR - http://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0041-1734026 ER -