Treatment of individuals with HIV infection at the Herdecke Hospital

By: Christof Schnürer

Treatment of Individuals with HIV Infection At Herdecke Hospital: Experiences, Hypotheses, Treatment Strategies
Original title: Behandlung von HIV-Betroffenen im Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Herdecke. Merkurstab 1995; 48: 217-31.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14271/DMS-16714-DE
Record of a lecture (Medica, Stuttgart 18 Nov. 1994). The record has been extended and an introduction added.
English by A. R. Meuss, FIL, MTA.
This translation is published with the kind permission of the journal Der Merkurstab.

JAM Vol. 12(3), Fall 1995 ; Schnuerer

Abstract

From 1985 to Jan. 1995 a total of 117 HIV and AIDS patients (265 admissions) received inpatient care at Herdecke Community Hospital (HCH). Primary reason for admission was, with few exceptions, advanced stage of the disease (> B/2 in current CDC classification). Selected data of a retrospective analysis covering 70 patients treated between 3/87 and 11/92 are presented and dis cussed.

The conclusions drawn from our material are considered in relation to the current status of AIDS research, after which the question is considered: how disease may be defined in terms of interaction between pathogen (external factor) and host (self determination). An attempt is made to reduce the many different conditions of human life to basic phenomena, one of these being polarity and the balance created between extremes. Polar phenomena can be perceived at different levels of life (micro, meta and macro levels). A polar phenomenon at the meta level, the functional threefold order of the human organism, first established by R. Steiner, is considered in some detail. AIDS is then considered from this point of view, with treatment strategies derived. Taking this approach further, critical questions arise concerning chemotherapy, which is widely used to prevent opportunistic infections.

Citation: Schnürer, C. (1995). Treatment of individuals with HIV infection at the Herdecke Hospital (A. R. Meuss, Trans.). Journal of Anthroposophic Medicine, 12(3), 8–23.