By Dr. Mercola
The most tweeted term in 2014 was "Ebola," a highly infectious and lethal disease that's been rapidly spreading in West Africa.
In October, I interviewed Dr. Robert Rowen, a leading expert on oxidative therapy, about an inexpensive and very safe treatment for this devastating disease.
At the time, he'd received an invitation by the President of Sierra Leone to bring his team there to teach health care workers how to treat Ebola using ozone.
Ozone is extraordinary in terms of its anti-infective and antiviral action, and it has virtually no toxicity, making it a prime candidate for both prevention and treatment of all sorts of infections and viral afflictions.
With bacteria, ozone works by puncturing the membrane of the bacteria, causing it to spill its contents and die. It also inactivates viruses, and does so 10 times faster than chlorine. This is in part why Dr. Rowen is convinced it can be a lifesaving treatment for Ebola patients.
Ozone is perhaps the most powerful natural oxidant in the world. It also has the advantage of stimulating the immune system, and modulating it—either up or down depending on what your system requires. In this follow-up interview, Dr. Rowen tells the story of what actually happened in Sierra Leone.
"Dr. Howard Robins and I traveled to Sierra Leone around the third week of October, and it was supported generously by donations from people who just came out of the blue, to donate money for materials.
The materials we had were syringes, needles, and butterfly needles. Longevity Resources Inc. from Canada donated 10 ozone machines. Royal Air Maroc got 37 boxes of cargo on our own plane; very kind of them to do that," he says.
Unfortunately, although not unexpectedly, the use of this incredibly inexpensive therapy was undermined from the very start...
Teaching Health Care Workers in Sierra Leone
Once in Sierra Leone, Drs. Rowen and Robins were housed and looked after by Dr. Kojo Carew—a national hero during their blood diamonds era. The very first day, they were taken to a large meeting hall with about 100 or more people who were there to hear them speak.
The audience included some "extraordinarily skeptical doctors," he notes, but by the time the lecture was over, most were willing to give ozone treatment a fair try. Conspicuously absent, however, was the Ministry of Health.
Over the next several days, Drs. Robins and Rowen trained many health care workers on how to administer Direct Intravenous Ozone Gas administration (DIV), and the Rowen-Robins protocol for Ebola, which involves a combination of supplements and timing of administration of DIV.
They also met with the President of Sierra Leone, who asked them to administer the treatment on him as well.
"I really admire him for that because here, he was putting himself in front of all of his people saying, 'I'm willing to do this.' And he did it. There was no problem," Dr. Rowen says.
Minister of Health Pulls the Plug on Ozone Treatment...
Eventually, after many meetings, they finally met with Paolo Conte, the defense minister of Sierra Leone and newly appointed Ebola czar.
"After we told him the story, he had one question for us, 'Why isn't this being done already?' We laughed and said, 'We think you need to ask your other ministers why it hasn't been done.'
We thought we had clearance now from their top brass. And the next day, we went to Hastings [the Sierra Leone government's Ebola treatment center] and started training all of their staff how to do [ozone therapy]...
In the middle of training, a call comes in from the assistant minister of health, telling the military Major in charge of the facility, 'If you value your job, there will be no ozone at Hastings...'
Shortly after that, a call came in from the minister of health himself, reaffirming [the order]. I'm a fairly calm person under most situations. I'm slow to anger, but I exploded. In full view of everybody there, their whole staff; I just came unglued.
I went to the Major and said, 'As far as I'm concerned, this is an illegal order. I told the entire staff, 'You're all at risk; some of you are going to die, [and] you're the President's top priority.'"
Why Is Sierra Leone Refusing Ozone Treatment for Dying Patients?
As a result, none of the infected Ebola patients were permitted to receive ozone therapy. However, they were allowed to continue training the staff, most of whom actually lined up to receive the treatment themselves, knowing the opportunity might vanish at any moment.
One might wonder just what kind of influences catalyzed the Minster of Health to override a direct request by the President... At present, there's no answer to that question.
Yet it's certainly interesting that they permitted the experimental drug ZMapp to be used on patients. They're also going to allow the use of Amiodarone—a highly toxic drug that, according to Dr. Rowen has been proven ineffective.
Yet to the date of this latest interview, they have refused ozone therapy, which is incredibly inexpensive—basically just the cost of a syringe—and has a long track record of safe and effective use against a wide variety of infectious and debilitating diseases. It makes no sense at all, unless Ebola is being viewed as a center for massive profit...
It's also interesting to note that, after appearing on the TV program National Encounter (which is similar to the American show 60 Minutes), where Dr. Rowen faced off against three government officials, the Sierra Leone Foreign Minister asked to have his entire family prophylactically treated with ozone therapy. Dr. Rowen declined to give his nod to use materials he and Dr. Robins brought.
"The supplies that were donated were donated for Ebola victims, period. End of story. They weren't to be used for prophylactic treatment for government ministers," Dr. Rowen says. "If we can't get to the Ebola patients ourselves, I wasn't going to authorize release of materials donated in trust to Dr. Robins and me..."
Two Doctors Recover from Ebola—Was it Due to Ozone Therapy?
One of the doctors trained in the use of ozone therapy at Hastings named Dr. Kanneh, accidentally stuck himself with an Ebola infected needle, and developed typical Ebola symptoms within three days, as expected. Understandably, he was scared to death to get tested, because he knew if he tested positive, he would not be allowed to receive ozone treatment. He did take ozone, as per Rowen-Robins protocol, and was symptom-free within 48 hours.
"First of all, if you're suspected of having Ebola, you're thrown into a room with every other person who's suspected. And if you didn't have Ebola beforehand, you're probably going to have Ebola afterwards," Dr. Rowen notes.
"If you do test positive for Ebola, you're picked up forcibly in a paddy wagon and you're carted off to the 'treatment center.' Treatment center? Well, I'm finding out now that the people aren't really fed. If their families don't feed them, they don't get fed. At best, you're going to get IV fluids...
They have a 60 percent probability of dying. And in the case of doctors... 100 percent of Sierra Leonean doctors who have gotten Ebola have died, with the exception of two. The first one is Dr. Kanneh. Now, we cannot prove that he had Ebola because he wasn't tested. I certainly now understand why he didn't get tested; he knew he would be carted off and left to die..."
The second survivor is Dr. Komba Songu Mbriwa, who did test positive for the virus. Somehow he was offered, and accepted, ozone therapy, which was administered by Dr. Kanneh. Four days later, the government announced Dr. Mbriwa was free of Ebola... It's still unclear what or who allowed Dr. Mbriwa to receive the treatment, while it was withheld from so many others—including other infected doctors.
"I'm not really sure how it got there or if they looked the other way because he was a military physician," Dr. Rowen says. "But even though he was treated with ozone, the government didn't acknowledge it publicly. In fact, while they publicly said, 'We now have the Sierra Leonean physician who's survived Ebola,' they didn't tell the world that he got ozone.
The government itself, apparently, took the credit for it. Now, I said 'apparently' because I don't know everything that happened there. All I know is, there's been no mention that the man received ozone at all, and we know he did receive it, and we know that he's the only confirmed physician case of a Sierra Leone doctor to have made [survived] it."
... [Another] doctor we trained at Hastings, whom I met, also got Ebola... He asked for ozone; he begged for ozone, and was refused. He was transferred from Hastings, where it could've been accessible, to another center where it wasn't accessible, and then he got renal failure, and he was transferred again for dialysis, and died. This is a man that I met and that I had hands-on training with, and my heart is broken because he was refused ozone after he asked for it."
Who is Making Ebola Decisions in Sierra Leone and Why?
Dr. Rowen is deeply concerned about what's happening in Sierra Leone, as well as other areas affected by Ebola. According to contacts on the ground, it appears the lives of those in Sierra Leone mean little to nothing—unless, that is, they survive Ebola. Then, they can get paid for their blood, which is given to the rich who get infected. Perhaps that is why those running these "killing fields" may not care about ozone therapy, he suggests. And, if that can happen in Sierra Leone, it can certainly happen in the US as well.
"I met [the Sierra Leone] Ebola 'czar' [Paloh Conteh]. He seemed responsible and powerful and sent us forward to accomplish our mission to cure the malady... I cannot understand how his directive was undermined. I cannot understand how the government [Health Ministry of Sierra Leone] can stand by when doctors and nurses continue to die. I will wonder all my life about this experience," Dr. Rowen notes.
In writings and over the phone, Dr. Rowen received the following information from a contact in Sierra Leone, whose identity is kept anonymous for safety reasons:
"I need to tell you what is going on here that is inhumane and bypassing the will of the people. If WHO says someone in your household gets Ebola and tests positive, everyone in that home including domestic help, cooks and drivers, are confined to that home or village with an ARMED GUARD out front. Well off families can have food brought. Poor families cannot afford it - no food, no water, no sanitation; in some cases they just die of starvation or dehydration before Ebola gets them. Even if they ask for [ozone] therapy by informed consent document, here is how they [SL government] can deny treatment without saying they are denying ozone:
- The Home or village now is a 'red' zone. Only authorized personnel are allowed in or out and the Ministry of Health puppets of WHO and CDC proclaim this a 'red zone' so anything allowed in, including doctors, are now quarantined along with the home. So, they cannot be treated at home, and they cannot leave to be treated. This effectively keeps them from receiving medical help! Do you get this demonic plan!
- They are not immediately tested for Ebola. If they have illness... they are to call 117 and the Ambulance, with sirens blaring bringing fear to all around the house, will take them to another quarantine holding center where, if they didn't have Ebola before they went there, they will have it after they get there!
- Once in the quarantining center they must wait to show strong signs of Ebola before a test is ordered, wasting more time. Once a 30 minute test is ordered it takes 1 - 3 days to get results because of back volume.
- Once the test comes back positive, you are 2- 5 days from death when you are taken to the 'treatment center.' You would think you would receive treatment, but the average person is lucky to receive adequate food and water as the staff are scared to death to do anything, and only the rich and famous are guaranteed even sustaining care. The WHO approved Convalescent Whole blood be used but it is only to give to those of privilege, but under great risk in that the blood types are not cross checked adequately, so you are more likely to die of mismatched blood than Ebola!...
A follower of this saga (posted on Dr. Rowen’s Facebook page) has created a White House petition, urging the Obama administration to stop America's testing of viruses in Africa, and to use cost-free ozone to combat Ebola. Please take a moment to sign the petition now.
Benefits Beyond Ebola
I'm convinced that ozone therapy is a highly effective and powerful intervention that can be useful for a wide variety of health issues, not just Ebola. Other infections that have a successful treatment record include Lyme disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease, just to name a few. According to Dr. Rowen, ozone therapy is also very beneficial for heart disease, immune diseases, injuries, and chronic degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis. As an example, Dr. Rowen has found that ozone is about 85 percent effective in knees and only slightly less effective in hips, when given as an injection.
Before considering knee or hip surgery it would be highly worthwhile to receive ozone treatments to see if that resolves the problem. While in Sierra Leone, Dr. Rowen was able to treat a number of Sierra Leoneans for other conditions besides Ebola. You can view some of these stories on his Youtube channel.1 I definitely believe it's wise to find a clinician who can administer ozone, or if you want to take it to the next step, like I did, you can actually purchase a unit yourself. While not a miracle cure-all, it's a valuable adjunct to other healthy lifestyle changes.
"This is how I see ozone," Dr. Rowen says. "It stimulates your body to do what God designed it to do. We're designed to be self-healing mechanisms. The bottom line in all healing is oxygen. It also improves blood rheology, blood flow, and oxygen delivery from red cells. It modulates your immune system so that if you have inflammatory valve disease, it brings it down to tolerable. If you're infected with Lyme and your immune system is down here, it brings it back up to parity."
Influenza is another infection that can be successfully treated and/or prevented with ozone therapy. It's certainly a far safer and likely more effective alternative to the flu vaccine. (As you may have heard, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that this year's flu vaccine is worthless, as virus strains in circulation do not match the ones in the vaccine.) Moreover, there's always the threat of a pandemic influenza outbreak, such as the avian flu. According to Dr. Rowen:
"We have evidence that oxidation therapies do help... A 1920 Lancet article by Dr. T.H Oliver shows that intravenous hydrogen peroxide cut in half the death rate from influenza pneumonia in 1920."
I communicated with Dr. Rowen on Christmas day. Strangely enough, international news has been circulating that there has been a mysterious decline in Ebola deaths at the Sierra Leone Ebola center at Hastings. The New England Journal of Medicine reports:
“We have observed a decreasing case fatality rate among inpatients at Hastings, from 47.7 percent among the first 151 patients (September 20 to October 13), to 31.7 percent among the next 126 patients with a final disposition (October 14 to November 4), to 23.4 percent among the next 304 patients (November 5 to December 7).”2
Dr. Rowen comments: “I sense the presence of the Divine in all this, and at Christmas time, amazingly. Notice the coincidence of dates. Robins and I were in Sierra Leone the third week of October. Dr. Kanneh was trained in ozone and survived his own apparent bout with Ebola in mid November. He has largely run a one man heroic show at Hastings, secreting in ozone water and perhaps ozone for rectal insufflation.
Information I have gotten on the ground in Sierra Leone in the last few days suggests that no one treated with ozone by virtually any method has died. If it holds, we have been guided to the medical discovery of the century. The dread, deadly and highly infectious Ebola disease may be no more fearsome than the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz, who melted when accidentally splashed with a bucket of water. The “wicked” Ebola virus may simply melt down when “splashed” with ozone, its Achilles Heel. Ozone, according to the literature I have, may handcuff the molecular fingers Ebola uses to enter host cells, which is what drove me to go to Sierra Leone in the first place.”
To learn more about the general use of oxidative medicine, which include ozone therapy, ultraviolet blood irradiation therapy, and intravenous hydrogen peroxide therapy, please see my previous interview with Dr. Rowen. Of the various oxidative therapies available, ozone appears to be the best overall, as it's the most versatile. It's particularly beneficial for blood treatments, infection, and chronic fatigue.
That said, all oxidative therapies work by stimulating your immune system, enhancing mitochondrial processes, and facilitating healing with virtually no side effects, and can be used either as treatment or prevention. They can also be used as a potent anti-aging health strategy for general wellness. I also encourage you to look at Dr. Rowen's channel on YouTube,3 where you can find a number of examples of what oxidative therapies can be used for so that you can avail yourself of this relatively inexpensive and incredibly safe therapy. To locate a clinician who can administer oxidative therapy you can try the following sources: