UVBI

Light has been used in medicine for over 100 years.  Some examples include UV light for newborns with jaundice, full-spectrum light for Seasonal Affective Disorder, lasers for skin rejuvenation and hair regrowth, low level lasers for acupuncture, high powered lasers for use in dentistry and surgery, etc.

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It is well known that ultraviolet (UV) light waves purifies water and is used to treat sewage.  By the same logic, UV can “purify” and “clean” your blood and body tissues if your blood is exposed to a controlled amount of UV energy.  The technique is called many things including Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation (UVBI), Photoluminescence, Photo-oxidation Therapy, Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation (UBI), Hematogenous Oxygenation Therapy (HOT), and Extracorporeal Photophoresis.  We call it Ultra Violet Photoluminescence (UVP) because using light energy (photons) to illuminate the blood can do much more than simply irradiate it.  UVP has been shown to:

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• Energize or enhance the biochemical and physiological defenses of the body by the introduction of ultraviolet energy into the blood stream.  UVP does not and can not kill every pathogen in your body directly.  If that were the case, you would have to irradiate all of the blood in your system and every inch of your body.  Rather UVBI transmits energy to the blood that empowers a strong response in the body.  White blood cells, if they are out of control, begin to stabilize.  UVP increases cell membrane permeability which enhances the body’s ability to produce antibodies and marks pathogenic microorganisms for destruction by your immune system.  The debris from dead pathogens stimulates the immune response further against even the most stubborn (antibiotic resistant) bacteria or viruses.

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• Rapidly detoxify and relieve toxemia.  UVP also helps the liver clear itself of fats.

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• Increase venous blood oxygen in patients with depressed blood oxygen values.  In fact, one of the effects noted by some is a “flushing” in the face and possibly a slight rise in temperature.  Oxygen in the blood has a powerful effect, helping to eradicate not only pathogens, but it also creates an environment in which yeasts, fungi, and cancer cells cannot exist.  It is generally believed that cancer requires an anaerobic (oxygen free) environment to grow.

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• Reduce edema (swelling and water retention outside of the cells).

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• If the body is anemic, UVP tends to stimulate red blood cell production.

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• Control nausea and vomiting.

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• Rapidly increase your resistance to bacterial infections, acute or chronic without harmful effects by increasing phagocytosis (a white blood cell activity).

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• According to the Foundation For Blood Irradiation, Inc, UVP or as they call it UVBI has been found useful in treating:

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Viral Infections (primarily UVC)

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• Poliomyelitis, polio-encephalitis, myelitis

• Hepatitis: infectious serum (One report lists forty-three cases of Hepatitis treated with an average of 3.28 UVBI treatments per patient.  Laboratory studies confirmed clinical improvement, which occurred on an average of 19.2 days after UVBI was instituted therapy. 60% of the patients were considered clinically recovered and able to return to their occupations in two weeks or less.

• Influenza and common upper respiratory disease

• Preliminary reports indicate that UVBI may be useful in treating HIV.

• Herpes simplex, Herpes zoster, Mononucleosis, Mumps, Measles

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Bacterial Infections (primarily UVC)

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• Pneumonia

• Septicemia (Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Pneumococcus)

• Wound Infections, lymphatic infections (lymphangitis)

• Peritonitis

• Typhoid Fever

• Recurrent skin infections (furunculosis, carbunculosis)

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Inflammatory Conditions

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• Acute thrombophlebitis

• Fibrositis, bursitis

• Nephritis

• Iritis, uveitis

• Cholecystitis

• Pancreatitis

• Rheumatoid arthritis

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Circulatory Conditions

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• Varicose and diabetic ulcers

• Peripheral vascular disease

• Gangrene

• Vascular headaches

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Other Conditions

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• Non-healing Wounds and Fractures

• Pemphigus

• Emphysema

• Adjunctive cancer treatment (Germany)

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Based on reports of thousand of cases using UVBI for viral infections, hepatitis, bacterial infections, hypoxemia, and many other illnesses, especially blood-related infections, it can be stated that UVBI and UVP has never caused a disease of any sort, nor has it ever damaged a patient in its use.  Over 60 scientific and clinical papers on ultraviolet blood irradiation have been reported in medical journals and before medical groups.

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A popular UVBI technique consists of withdrawing about 40-60 cc (less than 3 tablespoonfuls) of venous blood from your arm into a syringe that contains heparin (to prevent clotting). That blood-heparin mixture is added to a bag containing 190 cc of sterile saline (salt water) that is connected to tubing that passes over 3 tubes emitting either ultraviolet A or ultraviolet C light on its way back into your arm.  Since your irradiated salt-water blood mixture is returned through the same needle used for the initial venipuncture, the entire system is “closed.”  Blood, saline, and tubing is never re-used or shared.  Treatment requires about 30 minutes and can be done daily, but more often it is done 2-3x a week for 4 weeks (8-12 sessions) before reassessment is needed.

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Adverse Reactions:  The complete absence of harmful effects, either immediate or delayed, when UVBI is used property, has allowed clinical investigators to use this procedure over a period of twenty years and more on a single patient. 

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• Because heparin is used to prevent the blood from coagulated in the syringe and tubing, underdosing the amount may allow micro-clot formation or overdosing the heparin may allow excessive bleeding.  Testing your blood for clotting rate helps to determine the amount that is best for you.  Other reactions to heparin are also possible.

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• Citrate reactions are listed here for historical purposes.  We do not use citrate for anti-coagulation.

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• Photosensitization (light) Reactions can occur with certain medications such as sulfa drugs (used for antibacterial, insulin resistance, diabetes, etc.).  Since photosensitive drugs and light characteristically rapidly increase in tissue permeability, especially in the large intestines, swelling of the lungs, brain, skin, intestine and kidneys could occur if UVP is used with certain types of drugs that increase its effects.  It has been reported that UVP, after sulfa drugs had been discontinued, was a safe procedure.  Dr. Miley discovered that the use of photosensitizing drugs with UVP can be very unpredictable with sulfa drugs being the worst offenders.  However, it was found that sulfa drugs could be safely given before UVP but had to be stopped for at least 4 days after the last UV treatment was given.  Iodide drugs can also be a problem, especially if given intravenously.  Common non-photosensitive medications (ones that are OK to use with UVP) include penicillin, aspirin and other salicylates, broad-spectrum antibiotics, alkaloids, etc.  Some report that psychotropic medications (pain pills, anxiety and depression pills) should be used with caution as UVP may increase their effect.

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• Reactions due to death of a large number of bacteria (Herxheimer’s Reaction) frequently occur in the first twenty four hours following UVP.  Characterized by chill, rise in temperature, and a temporary increase in generalized toxic symptoms usually followed in a few hours by a resolution of all untoward symptoms.  This “die-off” reaction is usually similar to “flu-like” symptoms of headache, achiness, tiredness, and just “not feeling well” and usually lasts only several days.  This “die-off” reaction can, however, occur with any type of treatment including antibiotics.

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• Exacerbations in chronic diseases was reported by Dr. Miley that in approximately 50% of individuals with bronchial asthma, nasal sinusitis and chronic rheumatic disease (also in acute rheumatic disease), there appears for the first four to five days following initial UVP an aggravation of the pre-existing symptoms which is usually no more severe than any previous severe exacerbation.  This is especially true following the first application of UVP, much less likely to occur after a second UVP, and rarely after third.

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• Possibility of producing shock.  The withdrawal of blood from a patient in profound shock has been performed frequently in the Knott technique with no adverse effect.  On the contrary, the rapid disappearance of shock following re-injection of irradiated blood has been observed.

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• A rare and mildly depressant effect has been noted, characterized by mental lassitude and a desire to sleep more than usual; this is without much clinical significance, but is mentioned.

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Patient Guidelines:

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• Assist your body in eliminating water and toxins that will be flushed by this therapy.  You should drink 6 to 8 glasses of purified spring water or filtered water daily, primarily between meals.

• Have at least one bowel movement daily.  This will be aided by exercise, eating organic above-ground vegetables, taking extra magnesium and vitamin C to bowel tolerance, and essential oils.

• Alternatively, the “Springreen program” may be used to promote elimination and intestinal detoxification at the same time.

• Exercise to assist you in healing your mental as well as physical energies.

• Bathe your body daily and rub your skin vigorously with a terry cloth or luffa.

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Patient Restrictions:

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• Antibiotics should not be taken during the course of UVP unless specifically authorized by your doctor.  They may be photosensitizing.

• Those taking thyroid medications may need to decrease their dosages to avoid excessive elevations of metabolism, which might ensue when combined with UVP.  Thyroid testing may need to be performed during treatment in selected cases.

• Avoid strenuous exercise for at least 2 hours following each UVP session.

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History of UVBI:  UV light was first discovered by Johann Wilhelm Ritter in 1801.  In the late 1800s, physicians began to explore the connection between sunlight and health.  Just over one hundred years after the Ritter’s discovery, in 1903, Niels Ryberg Finsen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Physiology of Medicine for his work with UV light and disease.  He treated some 300 people suffering from a disfiguring skin disease called lupus vulgaris.  His work was based upon previous research showing that light could kill bacteria.

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The first use of Photoluminescence Therapy (also called Biophotonic Therapy), which we call Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation (UVBI), was in 1922 by Kurt Naswitis.  Naswitis irradiated the blood directly through a shunt.  In an attempt to irradiate the blood outside the body using a system that would circulate the patient’s blood through an irradiation chamber and then back to the patient, Emmet Knott developed the prototype machinery in use today.  He received his patent on September 11, 1928.

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In that same year, Knott irradiated blood from the first human subject; a case of bacterial sepsis.  The patient recovered within 24 hours of the treatment.  By the summer of 1942, over 6,500 patients had been treated with Photoluminescence Therapy with a greater than 95% success rate, and no harmful side effects.  In the forties, Knott made changes in his machinery and the FDA grandfathered in his device.

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In 1943 they reported a complete disappearance of viral pneumonia symptoms in 24 to 76 hours following a single treatment; a disappearance of coughing in 3 to 7 days; and clear lung X-Rays in 24 to 96 hours.  About this time, in a paper presented by Dr Virgil Hancock, et al., the following reactions were reported to occur after Photoluminescence Therapy is administered:

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• Inactivation of toxins.

• Destruction and inhibition of growth of bacteria.

• Increase in the oxygen combining power of the blood and oxygen transportation to organs.

• Immunostimulation of cellular and humoral (relating to bodily fluids) immunity (humoral immunity was a catchall phrase in a time before the complexities of the human immune system were understood)

• Activation of steroid hormones.

• Vasodilatation and improved microcirculation

• Activation of white blood cells.

• Decreased platelet aggregation

• Stimulation of fibrinolysis (the breakdown of blood clots)

• Decreased viscosity of blood

• Stimulation of corticosteroid production

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In over 50 years of testing, physicians performed over 300,000 clinical tests proving the validity of photoluminescence therapy and its curative potential.  Most important: not one patient was lost in all these studies.

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Medical historians tell us that the advent of antibiotics put an end to interest in UVBI, which was still in use and being studied.  Even though UVBI was successful against viruses that antibiotics can’t touch, UVBI was no longer taught in medical schools; hospitals no longer used it; and only a few holdouts still practiced it.  Research out of Russia and Europe was ignored.

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Only a few individuals practiced UVBI through the fifties, sixties, and onward.  In the 1970’s, Yale University developed a low wattage UV light to trigger chemotherapeutic agents (photoluminescence) which led to the FDA approving an Extracorporeal Photopheresis Blood Irradiator used at Yale.  The FDA approval allowed clinical trials on people with HIV and Graft-Versus-Host disease.  The trials were extremely successful for HIV/AIDS related Complex, as over half the patients remained HIV negative for 14 to 16 months after the termination of the study.  The drawback? Each treatment was expensive and lasted four to five hours.

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Other Modalities that utilize UVP include devices that do not require an intravenous route.  The basis for these devices is to access blood vessels very close to the surface of the body.  Unlike your skin, the mucus membranes of the mouth do not absorb UV rays and this explains why the blood vessels under your tongue are the preferred site for exposing your blood to UV energy.  In addition to the big advantage of this route being non-invasive (no needles or venipuncture), there are no special quartz cuvettes, no special training required, it is portable and could be used at home, and the treatment costs less.

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More Information is available in Into the Light by William Campbell Douglass, M.D., in which there is extensive review of the scientific literature.  The Europeans have concentrated primarily on its use in cardio-vascular disease, while the American literature concentrates more on infectious diseases.  Douglass recommends Photoluminescence Therapy for:

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• Immune deficiency problems

• Viral Infections (hepatitis, respiratory, AIDS, etc.)

• Pneumonia

• Non-healing wounds & wound infections

• Emphysema

• Inflammation: fibrositis, bursitis, iritis, pancreatitis, etc.

• Autoimmune diseases: rheumatoid arthritis, etc.

• Osteomyelitis

• Septicemia (virulent infection of the blood)

• Cancer (experimental at present)

• Peripheral vascular disease

• Most vascular disease

• Thrombophlebitis (inflammation of a blood vessel that results in blood clots) 

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Feb 2012