Defeating H1N1 and other infectious disorders by stimulating immune function

Julian Lieb, MD, is a retired professor of psychiatry at Yale Medical School. He has published review articles and books on the immunostimulating effects of lithium and antidepressants on infectious diseases and cancer.

Stimulating immune function to perform efficiently is the logical approach to defeating pathogens. Such stimulation is propagandized as unavailable, while in reality the potent immunostimulating properties of lithium and antidepressants were documented in 1981, when I published the first of nine reviews on the topic. A therapeutic claim is reinforced when the mechanism is known. In this case, minute molecules known as prostaglandins, when produced excessively, depress every component of immune function, and induce microbial replication. In the early 1970s, my late colleague David Horrobin and others showed that antidepressants and lithium inhibit prostaglandins.

Lithium has immunostimulating, antiviral and antibacterial properties, antidepressants immunostimulating, antiviral, antibacterial, antiparasite, and fungicidal properties. Lithium is often effective for paronychia, chalazions, bacterial skin infections, urinary tract infections, canker sores, cold sores and genital herpes, antidepressants for canker sores, cold sores, genital herpes, and probably T.B, malaria, and HIV-when  antidepressants are added to antiretrovirals, they reduce HIV viral load to undetectable.  Lithium has untapped potential in methicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections (MRSA),  hospital acquired infections (HAIs) sepsis, and pressure ulcers (bed sores).

With the threats posed by resistant TB, migration to our shores of parasites from central and south America never seen here before, and the emerging resistance of the malaria parasite to artemisin, the availability of immunostimulation will be all the more crucial. Government and private laboratories are pursuing immunostimulation in the context of infection and cancer; they are unlikely to succeed. In a review published in 1983, I proposed that to stimulate immune function, an agent must have mood elevating properties. Over the past quarter of a century, I appealed to innumerable individuals or institutions to support the advance, none of whom consented. Financial and nonfinancial conflicts of interest were surely involved.

As lithium and antidepressants both prevent recurrences of flu’ like colds, one cannot be sure which to favor for HINI, lithium for some, antidepressants for others a distinct possibility. A few doses of lithium or an antidepressant could sufficiently stimulate immune function, and reduce viral replication, as to bring some of the ailing back from the brink. A stimulated immune system would also be able to destroy super infection with bacteria or other viruses. People with well functioning immune systems are largely invulnerable to pathogens, compared to people with defective immune function.   

My research drew on clinical observation, and the studies of many colleagues indexed in Current Contents, Medline and Pubmed. The contents of this article may be verified by searching these databases. Given the perils, one should question the motives of diehards insisting on, “Large scale randomized clinical trials” or “epidemiological studies.”

I am a retired, former Yale medical school professor, and author or co-author of 48 articles and 10 books. The tenth, “Stimulating immune function to kill viruses” is due for release imminently. The availability of immunostimulation is incredibly good news for America and the world, but sabotaged by generations of medical researchers and educators that lost their ethical moorings. Paradigm shifts are often resisted, and to have an impact must be disseminated to the public, so as to bypass vested interests.

Julian Lieb, MD, is a retired professor of psychiatry at Yale Medical School. He has published review articles and books on the immunostimulating effects of lithium and antidepressants on infectious diseases and cancer.