The Century of Evidence Putting Light Inside the Body Is a Miraculous Therapy

August 15, 2024

Story at-a-glance

Natural light is a crucial nutrient many of us lack. When ultraviolet (UV) light enters the bloodstream, it can unlock phenomenal health benefits
In the 1930s, ultraviolet blood irradiation (UVBI) emerged as a revolutionary treatment. Hospitals across America adopted it, and it produced miraculous results for patients, demonstrating remarkable efficacy against a wide range of conditions (e.g., infections, autoimmunity, cardiovascular disease, and pregnancy issues)
Unable to monopolize the therapy, the American Medical Association (AMA) published a flawed study that discredited UVBI, leading to its decline in the U.S. However, Russia and Germany continued to recognize its value, conducting decades of research proving UVBI’s utility for various challenging medical conditions
In America, UVBI is primarily used by integrative practitioners to treat complex illnesses that do not respond to other therapies such as Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, spike protein injuries, and chronic migraines

In my writings, I have argued that we are often denied vital knowledge, treatments, and care to protect the interests of the medical-industrial complex. In my eyes, the story of Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation provides one of the clearest examples of this corruption.

The Importance of Sunlight

Many believe that sunlight, especially its ultraviolet (UV) component, is dangerous. This view emerged from an abhorrent 1980s PR campaign by dermatologists to promote highly lucrative skin cancer treatments.

In contrast, a 20-year study of 29,518 Swedish women found that those who avoided sunlight were 130% more likely to die than those who received regular sunlight and were also more likely to develop significant medical conditions, including cancer.¹ Likewise, in the first part of this series, I highlighted the pivotal role of natural light in:

Cancer and infections
Circulation
Behavioral disorders
Animal health, fertility, and agricultural productivity
Regulating growth cycles and the circadian rhythm

Unfortunately, natural light is rarely found indoors (e.g., standard glass blocks it), and since the eyes are the primary site of light absorption, those who wear glasses or contacts (like those with darker skin) are particularly vulnerable to light deficiency illnesses. In turn, remarkable results have been obtained from putting light directly into the body.²

The History of Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation

One of the oldest “proven” therapies in medicine was having people bathe in sunlight. For example, it was one of the few things that actually had success in treating the 1918 influenza,³ and (prior to antibiotics), tuberculosis.⁴

Before long, the medical field realized sunlight’s ultraviolet component was a sterilizing agent (along with UVC — a type of UV light that is blocked by the ozone layer), and a variety of sanitizing UV devices were developed (e.g., most recently, exposing air to UV light was demonstrated to be an effective way to prevent COVID-19 transmission).⁵

In 1927, Emmett Knott, not a doctor, experimented with sterilizing blood using UV light to combat septicemia. Initially unsuccessful, his approach involved irradiating the entire blood volume of infected dogs. A fortunate accident in 1928, where Knott under-dosed a dog, led to a dramatic recovery, demonstrating that a small amount of blood needed irradiation for the treatment to be effective.⁶

Knott's first human trial in 1933 saved a woman dying from septicemia.⁷ He then refined his method and, starting in 1937, successfully promoted UVBI across the U.S. By the 1940s, doctors found UVBI highly effective against challenging conditions like sepsis, pneumonia, nephritis, asthma, polio, botulism, rheumatic fever, and viral hepatitis.⁸

This was miraculous and by the early 1950s, UVBI was used in around 50 American hospitals.⁹ Doctors in 50 papers covering over 3,000 patients reported consistent but unbelievable results, even in severe infection cases where antibiotics failed.¹⁰

The literature of the time documented many notable cases such as a man with multiple severe conditions, including brain and lung clots, pneumonia, and paralysis. UVBI led to his near-instant recovery, and he eventually regained his health completely. Likewise, prominent media outlets like The New York Times,¹¹ Time Magazine,¹² and The American Weekly¹³ featured articles on its success.

“I think personally that [Knott’s discovery] is one of the greatest contributions to medicine ever made by a citizen of the United States.” — George Miley MD (1940)

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Market Monopolization

At this point, the American Medical Association (AMA) got involved, and as they had done to many other promising therapies, attempted to extort Knott by offering to prove UVBI worked in return for the rights to it.¹⁴ Knott refused and the AMA conducted a biased study¹⁵ that was designed to fail. Despite its data saying otherwise, it concluded:

"We have concluded that none of our patients derived benefit from the irradiation of blood with the Knott hemo-irradiator."

Hospitals, relying on the “authoritative” study's misleading conclusion, abandoned UVBI in favor of antibiotics. Fortunately, UVBI found new life overseas (e.g., in Russia and Germany) as it offered a much more economical way to practice medicine.

Note: The suppression of UVBI mirrors the fate of other lifesaving therapies which were blacklisted through rigged clinical trials like IV vitamin C for sepsis, ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19, and numerous promising cancer treatments (all of which I discussed further here).

Physiologic Effects of UVBI

Once ultraviolet light contacts the bloodstream, the following rapidly occurs:

The body relaxes, the skin pinkens, circulation greatly improves, cyanosis disappears and pain reduces or disappears.	All abnormal vital signs normalize.
"Toxic" conditions (e.g., botulism or sepsis) resolve.	Autonomic function normalizes (e.g., peristalsis resumes).
Venous oxygenation (if depleted) increases by 25% to 58%.	White blood cell counts normalize (as does a variety of other abnormal bloodwork).

Note: This normalization helps explain why UVBI is highly effective against both infections and autoimmune conditions.

These effects, in turn, help to explain how UV can cause patients on the brink of death to stabilize rapidly, something almost never seen in critical care medicine (and which I’ve argued is a property of UVBI improving the systemic zeta potential — something we believe is critical for health).

Additionally, delayed effects (e.g., the body mounting an immune response against an infection or a general sense of wellness) are often seen days to weeks after a UVBI treatment.

The rapid systemic response to irradiating a small portion of the blood in turn suggests that blood is able to conduct light. This is supported by numerous observations such as the profound health effects of insufficient sunlight reaching the eyes.¹⁶ Mechanistically this conduction is possible due to the energy transferring properties of hemoglobin.¹⁷

How Is Blood Irradiated?

Classically, UVBI involves removing a small amount of blood (40 to 60ml), diluting it, and then infusing it back into the body while passing it through UV light.

Note: One argument for blood conducting light is that externally illuminating blood connected to the circulation will create a systemic shift long before the small amount of irradiated blood can reach the IV and enter the circulation.

In the early 1980s, German and Russian researchers realized light could also be put into the body through a laser either applied externally through the skin, or internally through an illuminated catheter. Laser blood irradiation (LBI) has similar effects to extracorporeal UVBI,¹⁸ with LBI having a faster onset but typically requiring more treatments, while UVBI has stronger bactericidal, anti-inflammatory, and circulatory effects.¹⁹

UVBI Research

UVBI researchers have identified over 200 journal articles on the use of UVBI²⁰ and LBI published between 1934 and 2020. In almost all cases, an 80% to 100% success rate was seen with UVBI (with the lower rates typically correlating to the worst cases that were otherwise expected to be fatal).

In addition to efficacy, these studies have consistently found a complete absence of side effects from UVBI (and LBI). The existing evidence demonstrates UVBI’s efficacy for severe ailments such as:

Infections both from bacteria (e.g., sepsis, septic abortions, osteomyelitis, meningitis, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and severe forms of a variety of common infections) and viruses (e.g., pneumonia, shingles, hepatitis, severe COVID-19, long COVID, polio, AIDS).²¹ For example:

• A 1942 study of 103 consecutive acute pyogenic infections found UVBI successfully treated 20/20 early infections, 46/47 moderately advanced, and 17/36 moribund (on the verge of death) cases.²²

• A similar 1947 study found UVBI treated 56/56 early, 317/323 moderately advanced and 30/36 moribund acute pyogenic infections.²³

• 631 pelvic inflammatory diseases (35% being very severe, 35% moderately severe and 27% mild) UVBI alone cured 79% of the most severe cases, 80% of the moderate cases, 87% of the mild cases.

Half of the remaining cases improved, while the final 10% also required surgery (where UVBI halved the death rate of the surgeries). Additionally, 17 of the women had become sterile from their condition and all of them became pregnant following UVBI.²⁴

• 86 patients with destructive tuberculosis received UVBI and antibiotics (while 136 controls only received antibiotics). Within 3 months, 100% of the UVBI group was disease free (compared to 58.8% of controls), 89.5% of them had their lungs recover (compared to 38.2% of controls), and their hospital stay was reduced by 48 days.²⁵

• 50 patients with severe skull or brain injuries and concurrent pneumonia received 6-8 UBI treatments alongside antibiotics. Compared to 25 controls, their mortality and hospital stay were reduced, and an improved immune response was seen in their T-cell, IgA, and IgM levels.²⁶

• 40 infants (up to 3 years old) who were suffering from acute pneumonia or pleural infections received UVBI and were found to have a much lower death rate and recover 1.7 times faster than 25 historical controls.²⁷

• 43 patients with acute viral hepatitis (3 of whom were chronic) found UVBI received UVBI (averaging 3 treatments) caused all to experience a rapid improvement, with more than half experiencing a marked improvement in 3 days or less.²⁸

• A 2015 American clinical trial gave 9 patients with hepatitis C three sessions of five UVBIs over a 22-week period. It found the viral load was reduced by 21.5% at 20 weeks, and reached its lowest (44.9%) at 37 weeks. Additionally, at 20 weeks, their direct bilirubin declined by 41.1%, their AST by 15.2% and their ALT by 19.3%.

Additionally, two patients showed marked improvement in their concurrent psoriasis (a condition that also responds to UVBI) at the conclusion of the trial.²⁹

• A 2021 study of 35 patients (and 35 controls) with moderate or severe COVID-19 found UVBI reduced their hospital stay by 7 days, prevented any of them from dying, and as shown by CT scan, healed their lungs.³⁰

• 10 Patients with long COVID symptoms received UVBI. All of them experienced a significant improvement of their symptoms, which correlated to declining D-dimer levels. Many patients fully recovered after one irradiation and no side effects were reported.³¹

Note: UVBI is frequently sought out for shingles.

Cardiovascular disorders — (e.g., heart attacks,³² angina, peripheral arterial disease, intermittent claudication, Raynaud’s, thrombophlebitis, high blood pressure, pulmonary hypertension).³³ Lenny’s story³⁴ for example matches what has been seen in many Russian and German studies:

“Just a couple of months ago, I had problems just walking around the mall. I would have to stop four times and rest just to go two blocks. I was told that 1/3 of patients having what I have get better, 1/3 stay the same, and 1/3 get worse, and there was nothing more that I could do. I had two UBI treatments at the clinic, and my, what a difference.

I had a conference in Minneapolis last week and walked over two miles in cold weather (something that I could not do). I not only felt great, but I am also full of energy.”

To illustrate, a German study of 21 patients suffering from an obstructive peripheral arterial disease (Fontaine stage II) received UVBI and were then able to walk three times as far alongside their blood viscosity decreasing (something which results from increasing the physiologic zeta potential), their blood oxygen utilization improved, and their lactate concentrations decreased. Additionally, these effects were not seen in those who received placebo treatments.³⁵

A study evaluated 13 consecutive patients with acute thrombophlebitis (inflammatory clots in the vein) all of which had rapidly disappeared following UVBI, typically in 24 to 48 hours.³⁶

Autoimmune disorders — These are some of the common conditions treated with UVBI. This was originally discovered incidentally after rheumatoid arthritis³⁷ or asthma was treated after UVBI and it was gradually discovered that UVBI treated a myriad of other autoimmune disorders.

Most of the early research focused in this area on using UVBI for asthma where between 70% to 92% of patients (including intractable cases) significantly improved from UVBI.³⁸ The most recent study in this area was done in 1996 on patients with steroid resistant asthma and found LBI had a positive clinical effect, reduced the steroid dose for the majority of patients, and reduced the activity of their monocytes.³⁹

There are also more unusual applications in this area. For example, a blinded study found that UVBI before a bone graft prevents dogs from rejecting the transplant.⁴⁰ Similar results were obtained in rats with heart grafts⁴¹ and for reducing the rejection of incompatible human blood types.⁴²

Likewise, a Russian trial irradiated the cerebrospinal fluid (rather than blood) of 26 MS patients, 14 of whom had good results and 12 of whom had no response. The better responses (e.g., improved sensation, coordination, and blood work) were those with the less severe cases.⁴³ The only side effects observed were from the lumbar puncture required to do this treatment.

Visceral conditions — (e.g., liver, biliary and gallbladder diseases, pancreatitis, disseminated peritonitis, kidney diseases). Since UVBI improves circulation and reduces inflammation, it has been found to help with a variety of internal organ problems.

For example, one study of patients with chronic lung conditions (e.g., bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive bronchitis) improved their hemodynamic (e.g., pulmonary hypertension was decreased).⁴⁴ Likewise, another study of 22 patients with gastric or duodenal ulcers found UVBI helped seal and heal the ulcers.⁴⁵

Neurologic and psychiatric disorders — (e.g., depression, schizophrenia, tinnitus, a foggy head, or insomnia).

Since UVBI increases blood flood to the brain and decreases inflammation, it can help a variety of neurological disorders. In my own case, my introduction to UVBI arose from the fact I’d had severe migraine like headaches that did not respond to any therapy, at which point my doctor suggested UVBI — which was life changing for me (and I’ve thus used UVBI ever since).

Note: In the literature, much of the research on neurologic and psychiatric conditions used LBI rather than UVBI.⁴⁶ Additionally, many of the neurological benefits (e.g., decreased migraines) we reported as incidental benefits when another disease was being treated.

Obstetrics and gynecology — (e.g., male and female fertility, preventing miscarriages, preeclampsia, having healthy babies, polycystic ovarian syndrome, pelvic inflammatory diseases).

One of the earliest examples of UVBI being used in Obstetrics was a series of 30 consecutive patients with threatened abortions. All had an immediate cessation of their cramps and bleeding following UVBI, and in 21 of the 22 where the fetus was alive when UVBI began, their baby survived (with the final case being a particularly difficult one).⁴⁷

More recently, when 53 Russian women with preeclampsia who received UVBI were compared to 53 who did not, UVBI was found on average to prolong the gestation by 4.1 weeks and reduce pathological births and poor fetal conditions by 50%.

There was also less maternal blood loss and fetal hypoxia at birth, and the fetal birth weight was higher. Finally, UVBI improved and normalized the mother’s microcirculation, reduced or eliminated blood sludging (stasis), and prevented disseminated intravascular coagulation.⁴⁸

Surgery — Since its inception, UVBI has been observed to significantly reduce the complications of surgeries such as infection and death (e.g., see these two studies on C-sections).^49,50 It has also been observed to improve recovery time (e.g., postoperative ileus is often observed to resolve after UVBI).

Note: Significantly more studies on the uses of UVBI (that are summarized) can be found here. Additionally, in the early 1990s a Canadian Pharmaceutical company created a device that injected ozonated and UV irradiated blood into the body and through numerous clinical trials was able to prove it was safe and effective for a variety of conditions.⁵¹

Conclusion

This wide range of benefits hence suggests that UVBI is somehow able to reactivate the body’s innate ability to regulate and heal itself (e.g., by turning off the cell danger response or restoring blood circulation). UVBI’s therapeutic efficacy in turn goes hand in hand with so many benefits resulting from sufficient natural light exposure and the repeated observation that those with a deficiency of natural light had the best response to UVBI.

Fortunately, the remarkable results of UVBI have kept it in use across the world, and more and more people are becoming aware of its utility. For instance, one of the most controversial moments of Trump’s presidency was his asking about putting a disinfecting light inside the body to treat COVID-19.⁵² While the media did all it could to portray this as Trump suggesting “we should inject ourselves with bleach,” many understood what was actually being discussed.

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For example, both Joe Rogan and Jimmy Dore were fully aware of the remarkable properties of UV blood irradiation, its utility for conditions like COVID-19, and the medical cartel's routine suppression of competing therapies.

While COVID-19 was an immense tragedy, the one blessing we had from it was that the abhorrent conduct we witnessed throughout the pandemic was so brazen that it woke the public up to their playbook. As the months go by, more and more are learning about the Forgotten Sides of Medicine.

Author’s note: This is an abridged version of a longer article about UVBI which goes into greater detail on the mechanisms behind UVBI, summarizes the vast body of published literature on UVBI (e.g., for other conditions such as cancer and mitigating the effects of chemotherapy), and provides resources for those interested in accessing the most effective forms of this therapy. That article and its additional references can be read here.

About the Author

A Midwestern Doctor (AMD) is a board-certified physician in the Midwest and a longtime reader of Mercola.com. I appreciate his exceptional insight on a wide range of topics and I'm grateful to share them. I also respect his desire to remain anonymous as he is still on the front lines treating patients. To find more of AMD's work, be sure to check out The Forgotten Side of Medicine on Substack.

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Saturday, August 24, 2024