Medical Society for Ozone Therapy

What you need to know about ozone/oxygen therapy.

 From: The Use of Ozone in Medicine
 Second Revised Edition
 First English Edition
 S. Rilling/R. Viebahn
 1987


What is ozone?

Ozone is an oxygen compound which also occurs in nature.  In fact, it 
is known to almost everyone on account of its unpleasant odor which is 
often produced after a heavy thunderstorm, in mountains, by the 
seaside, or when artificial (ultraviolet) sunlight is applied.

Approximately 30 kilometers above the earth's surface, a layer of 
ozone is present, called the ozonosphere: it ensures that the damaging 
parts of the sun's high-energy UV radiation are filtered out before 
they reach us.  It was this part of the atmosphere which made life on 
our planet possible at all!

However, ozone has also come to our attention as a component of smog 
where it is produced as a result of the interaction between industrial 
waste gases (nitrogen and sulphur compounds) and oxygen in the air 
under the sun's influence: it can be used to measure the extent of 
pollution present in the environment.  Apart from its name, this has 
absolutely nothing in common with medical ozone.

How and where is ozone generally used?

Most of the properties of ozone are shown in table 1, and these are 
applied throughout the world for the treatment (dressing) of drinking 
water and the regeneration of waste water - such as in Moscow (with 
the largest installation in the world), Singapore, Brussels/Belgium, 
Essen/Germany, Florence/Italy and Marseille/France.  In Southern 
Germany, an installation of this type supplies more than two and a 
half million persons in the Stuttgart area with the very best drinking 
water from Lake Constance (Bodensee) - pretreated with ozone!

Why is ozone in medicine, what disease are treated with it and how is 
it applied?

In addition to the properties described, the following are 
particularly important when ozone is used medically:

 its bactericidal effect  -  it destroys bacteria
 its fungicidal effect    -  it acts against all fungus infections
                             (on the skin and mucous membranes)
 its virucidal effect     -  viruses become ineffective against ozone
                             protected cells.

In addition to this, ozone possesses a number of other properties in 
the biological system, whose effect may be described as that of 
improving the circulation.  This means that ozone has a positive 
influence on the oxygen supply and oxygen-processing facilities in the 
tissue.  As a result, the medical application of ozone can be for the 
following diseases:

Infected wounds, decubitus ulcers (bedsores in chronically ill 
patients), badly healing wounds ('open leg') and similar complaints, 
in addition to fungal infections (nowadays widespread).

It is also effective in the case of diseases caused by bacteria and 
viruses, such as for example herpes simplex (a highly infectious 
outbreak of small blisters on the skin) and herpes zoster (shingles, 
inflammation and blisters surrounding the abdomen), as well as 
jaundice (yellow fever) in all its different form.

Another application of medical ozone which is extremely important also 
belongs to this category, i.e. that in circulatory disturbances 
('senile' gangrene, open black rot, smoker's leg, leg sores, etc.), 
but naturally also for circulatory disturbances in conjunction with 
arteriosclerosis and diabetes!

Medical ozone is a mixture of (at maximum) 5 parts pure ozone gas and 
95 part oxygen (for external application only!) and a mixture 
consisting of only 0.05 parts ozone (and therefore 99.95 parts oxygen) 
when applied as an agent for improving circulation and accelerating 
healing tendencies.

The applications of medical ozone

1. Intraarterial application ((of the ozone/oxygen mixture):
   This is principally used in arterial circulatory disturbances.

2. Intestinal insufflation:
   This application has proved itself to be invaluable in mucous 
   colitis (a fungal infection in the intestine) and fistulae 
   (abnormal openings): this technique was already applied by the 
   Austrian physician Payr in 1935 and the French therapist Aubourg in 
   1936.  It had been discovered already at that time that the ozone 
   content of the blood is increased after rectal ozone/oxygen gas 
   application!

3. Intramuscular application:
   This method is prominent in the treatment of inflammatory 
   infections and allergic diseases.

4. Major and minor autohemotherapy:
   Based on the studies and methods of Wehrli, one of the most famous 
   modern therapists, H. Wolff, devoted his attention to these two 
   technical applications from 1968 until his untimely death in 1980: 
   he continuously demonstrated their efficacy in arthritis, 
   hepatitis, allergies and herpes infections with a weakened 
   reticuloendothelial system (RES).

5. Ozonized water:
   Is used in the field on dental medicine, e.g. for disinfection 
   during surgery.

6. Intraarticular injection:
   in other words, injections into diseased joints, this is a method 
   reserved for practical application in surgery and into diseased 
   joints, this is a method reserved for practical orthopedics, e.g. 
   in rheumatic complaints.

7. External application:
   Is indicated in cases of fungal infections, ulcus cruris (leg 
   ulcers) and infected or badly healing wounds: the ozone/oxygen gas 
   mixture is applied over the skin inside an ozone resistant plastic 
   hood.


The Present-day uses of ozone in Medicine

 Abscess                            Acne
 AIDS                               Allergies(hypersensitivity)
 Anal fissure                       Antiviral effect
 Cerebral sclerosis                 Circulatory disturbances, arterial
 Cirrhosis of the liver             Climacterium (menopause)
 Constipation                       Cystitis 
 Decubitus (Bedsores)               Dermatology
 Dermatology/Allergology            Dermatology/Proctology
 Fistulae                           Fungus-caused diseases
 Furunculosis                       Gangrene
 Gastroenterology                   Gerontology
 Hepatitis                          Herpes
 Hypercholinesteremia               Mucous colitis
 Neurology                          Odontology (dental medicine)
 Oncology (tumours)                 Oncological additive
                                     (special additional cancer 
                                       treatment)
 Orthopaedics                       Osteomyelitis (inflammation of the
                                                    bone marrow)
 Parkinson's disease                Polyarthritis
 Proctology, gynecology             Radiology
 Raynaud's disease (attacks of      Scars (after radiation)
   vascular cramp)
 Spondylitis (inflammation of       Stomatitis (inflammation of the
   the vertebrae)                      mouth cavity)
 Sudeck's disease (vegetative       Surgery
   distrophy in all joints)
 Surgery/Dermatology                Thrombophlebitis (inflammation of
                                       the veins)
 Ulcus cruris (open leg sores)      Urology
 Vascular surgery                   Wound healing disturbances


Table 1 - The properties of ozone according to Rilling/Viebahn

 - Oxygen saturation
 - Disinfection (bacteria and germs)
 - Inactivation of viruses
 - Fungicide
 - Reduction of fetor (wound odor)
 - Reduction of taste
 - Elimination of fecal bacteria (Biochemical oxygen demand/Chemical 
    oxygen demand reduction
 - Elimination of sulphur
 - Oxidation and flocculation of Mn and Fe
 - Oxidation of cyanide and phenol
 - Elimination of detergents
