Examining Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation and IV Vitamin Therapies: What Are They and What Can They Do For You?

Originally published by A Voice For Choice Advocacy on September 19, 2024.

EDITOR’S SUMMARY: Blood therapies have shown positive results for the prevention and treatment of multiple health conditions. Local clinics are increasingly sought out, gaining popularity for their IV injections, infusing “boosts of energy,” and rejuvenating your immune system when ill. Research is being conducted for more serious issues, including ecosystem disruption from stubborn pathogens.?

By Jennifer Wolff-Gillispie HWP, LC

Complementary medicine is defined as “any of a range of medical therapies that are not regarded as orthodox by the medical profession, such as herbalism, homeopathy, and acupuncture.” More recently, some of these modalities, once considered fringe, have transitioned toward widespread acceptance, becoming integrated into mainstream healthcare. While some of these methods have become commonplace, and may be a part of your regular health regime, emerging treatments for serious conditions, such as ultraviolet blood irradiation (UBI) or intravenous (IV) vitamin therapy may be new to you. They are not typically presented as an option from healthcare providers. In the face of potentially dangerous pathogenic infections such as sepsis, influenza, malaria, measles, e-coli, or salmonella, an allopathic doctor ordering ultraviolet blood irradiation or intravenous vitamin therapy is rare. In contrast to these less-known blood therapies, conventional medicines used as treatment for pathogenic infections are backed by extensive research and clinical trials. The funding for these trials often comes from government, universities, or research institutions, but more often than not are funded by the pharmaceutical companies themselves. This is why medications have a large cache of studies to refer to, while holistic therapies appear more scarce.

Conventional medicines such as antibiotics, antivirals, antiparasitics, and antifungals typically take precedence as the primary interventions given. These treatment options are used by practitioners because they are based on long-standing usage, familiarity, relative (perceived) safety, and doctor/insurance recommendations/coverage. Antibiotics, antivirals, antiparasitics, and antifungals specifically target microbial pathogens, either by killing or inhibiting their growth. These medications are often prescribed based on the type of pathogen causing the infection, and its susceptibility to specific drugs. For example, antibiotics are commonly used to treat bacterial infections by targeting bacterial cell walls, protein synthesis, or nucleic acid synthesis. Antiviral medications, on the other hand, interfere with viral replication, or entry into host cells, helping to control viral infections such as influenza or HIV. Similarly, antiparasitic and antifungal drugs target parasites and fungi, respectively, disrupting their life cycles or cell membranes to eradicate the infection. These pharmaceuticals may at times be essential for managing severe or life-threatening infections, and preventing their spread to other individuals.

That said, however effective at combating their intended target, medications for pathogenic infections are fraught with potential concerns. While antiparasitic and antifungal drugs are generally considered safe by medical establishments, allergic reactions, gastrointestinal upset, and organ damage are possible. When it comes to antibacterials (antibiotics) and antivirals, there is even further concern. Antibiotics can disrupt the balance of beneficial bacteria in the body, specifically your gut. This imbalance (known as dysbiosis) can lead to life threatening conditions like Clostridium difficile (c diff) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. Many bacteria are becoming resistant to conventional antibiotics because of long-term overuse, leading doctors to utilize stronger, more dangerous versions. Antibiotics like ciprofloxacin (Cipro) and levofloxacin (Levaquin), which are in the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics, are extremely risky, and can lead to disabling side effects of the muscles, tendons, joints, nerves, and central nervous system. Antiviral drugs are also of concern as they too can become ineffective due to drug-resistant viruses. Drug resistance happens when bacteria or viruses mutate and become less susceptible to the effects of the given drugs.?

With newly emerging pathogenic infections that do not have a given protocol (Ex: SARS COV-2), and existing infections that are increasingly more difficult to treat, patients, doctors, and scientists are beginning to look at different treatment options that can complement or replace traditional medications. While pharmaceuticals like antibiotics can be highly effective against infection, due to allergies, intolerances, side effects, or drug resistance, more and more people are opting out of receiving these conventional drug therapies.?

Into Your Bloodstream …

In the quest for successful solutions against pathogenic infections, ultraviolet blood irradiation (UBI) therapy has emerged as a promising modality. UBI involves exposing a small portion of your blood to ultraviolet (UV) light before reintroducing it back into your bloodstream in a sterile “closed-loop” system. The mechanism of action underlying UBI therapy revolves around the germicidal properties of UV light. UV radiation, particularly in the UVC range (200–280 nm), has been shown to damage the DNA and RNA of microorganisms, thereby inhibiting their replication and proliferation. Any DNA damage that is done to the host cells are repaired by DNA repair enzymes. This process also stimulates your immune system, altering the function of leukocytes, increasing stimulator cells, and reversing or halting cytokine production. When blood is exposed to UVC light of a specific wavelength during UBI therapy, circulating pathogens are susceptible, and targeted leading to their inactivation. Additionally, UV exposure stimulates the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) within the blood, which further contributes to the destruction of pathogens through oxidative stress.

Normally you would want to limit oxidative stress and free radicals, but in specific conditions, the body uses this process to fight pathogens through cell damage, and death of the invading pathogen which is induced by the UV light. If left unchecked, however, free radicals can play a role in many disease processes in your body. While you are discouraged from taking antioxidants (they can disrupt the process) within 24 hours of treatment for best results, it is important to balance your intake of antioxidants post-treatment to combat excess free radicals and oxidative stress. The use of UV light for medical/therapeutic purposes dates back to the early 20th century when Nobel laureate Niels Finsen pioneered phototherapy for treating tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. With a 98% success rate in the thousands of cases he worked with, his treatment was a resounding success.

Even earlier in the 1800s, the documented use of UV light to combat pathogens was well known. Sunlight (UV) was commonly used to treat tuberculosis arthritis in the 1840s (called heliotherapy). Gradually the application of UV light therapy became more popular when it was discovered that it could kill bacteria. Subsequently, UV therapy (UBI) gained tremendous popularity in the 1940s as a treatment for various infections, including septicemia, pneumonia, and viral illnesses. However, despite its success and popularity, UV therapy was soon replaced by the demand for the cheap-and-easy-to-administer antibiotic penicillin that emerged during WWII.

While UBI technology may seem futuristic, the work that Emmett K. Knott conducted in the 1920s paved the path for its use now (100 years later). Knott conducted a series of experiments with dogs using direct UV exposure on their blood to kill Staphylococcus aureus and hemolytic Streptococcus. All dogs that were treated recovered, while many in the control group did not, and were laid to rest. Knott also discovered at this time that the precise amount of blood needed to be irradiated was 5–7% of the total blood volume (known as the Knott technique) to treat the infection. Treating more than that actually led to a loss of benefit, as it could be damaging rather than beneficial. The first human treatment took place in 1928 on a woman who was on the verge of death after a septic abortion. Doctors used UBI therapy as a “last resort” to save her life. The woman went on to make a full recovery after treatment, and subsequently was able to give birth twice thereafter.

This led to UV blood irradiation being hailed in the 1940s and 1950s as a “miracle therapy” for severe infections, including cancer. Conditions that were successfully treated at the time included thrombophlebitis (blood clot), staphylococcal septicemia, botulism, poliomyelitis, non-healing wounds, e-coli, biliary disease, cellulitis, infectious arthritis, tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, and typhoid fever. As mentioned previously, despite UBI’s tremendous success, it did not stand a chance against the advertisement campaign and financial backing of the pharmaceutical companies. They pushed for the use of their newly manufactured wonder drug: penicillin.?

“When the thunderous battles of this war have subsided to pages of silent print in a history book, the greatest news event of World War II may well be the discovery and development- not of some vicious secret weapon that destroys- but of a weapon that saves lives. That weapon, of course, is penicillin. Every day, penicillin is performing some unbelievable act of healing on some far battlefront. Thousands of men will return home who otherwise would not have had a chance. Better still, more and more of this precious drug is now available for civilian use… to save the lives of patients of any age. A year ago, production of penicillin was difficult, costly. Today, due to specially-devised methods of mass production, in use by Schenley Laboratories Inc. and the 20 other firms designated by the government to make penicillin, it is available in ever-increasing quantity, at progressively lower cost.”

This drove other treatments for infections out of favor leading to the end of UBI’s widespread use. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in ultraviolet blood irradiation therapy as a safe potential adjunctive or treatment for drug-resistant infections and emerging pathogens. This once abandoned therapy has been dubbed “The Cure That Time Forgot.” The businessman who coined the term, Tom Lowe, is a fervent believer in this therapy. He set up Invisible Cure: How It Works, for patients to easily learn about the benefits, and find a treatment center nearby. Lowe stated, ‘“I was a skeptic at first. I thought, ‘How can light have that much effect?’” According to Health News Florida:?

“Lowe’s site, drsubi.com [sic], lists 131 studies that have been published on the ultraviolet blood therapy, but few since the 1950s are in English. Most since then were done by Russians, including many that have not been translated. One involved treatment of 312 workers who were exposed to radiation during clean-up after the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl. In the United States, enthusiasm for UBI began to wane after the advent of antibiotics in the 1940s and the discovery of a polio vaccine in the 1950s. Americans forgot about UBI in the era of pharmaceuticals…”

More recent clinical trials have also shown promising results, with UBI therapy associated with reduced microbial load, and improved clinical outcomes in patients with bacterial, viral, and fungal infections. According to “Use of Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation Against Viral Infections”:?

“UBI has potentially much more rewarding uses, competing with both antivirals and vaccines. However, it suffers from the lack of recent developments, and need specific trials to understand if it maybe works…recently, UBI has shown promises for blood cancer treatment (for example, T cell lymphomas, leukemia), viral infections (for example, hepatitis C), or bacterial infections (for example, tuberculosis).”?

One of the key considerations in evaluating the utility of UBI therapy is its safety profile. While UV radiation can cause tissue damage and DNA mutations at high doses, the exposure levels used in UBI therapy are carefully controlled to minimize the risk of adverse effects. Studies have shown that UBI is generally well-tolerated, with few reports of negative reactions. One report stated, “Side effects were generally mild and resolved on their own or with minimal medical attention.” Common side effects include transient fever, chills, and local erythema at the site of infusion, which typically resolve spontaneously. Serious complications are rare but may occur in individuals with pre-existing photosensitivity disorders or compromised immune function. Despite the accumulating evidence supporting the efficacy and safety of UBI therapy, several challenges remain. Standardization of treatment protocols, optimization of dosing regimens, and identification of patient selection criteria are areas that require further research. Additionally, large-scale randomized controlled trials are needed to validate the findings of earlier studies, and establish the role of UBI as a mainstream therapy for pathogenic infections.?

While on its own, ultraviolet blood irradiation therapy has enormous potential for healing pathogenic infections, there is also a growing interest in a medical treatment that is enormously successful—intravenous (IV) vitamin therapy. You may have heard of wellness clinics using IV vitamin therapy for quick recovery after a hangover, for an “energy boost,” or if you are feeling under the weather. However, the exploration of this modality for more serious conditions falls short of its potential. Despite its use and success prior to the discovery of penicillin (and other treatments), doctors have not yet opted to explore IV vitamin therapy as a first line of defense. Unfortunately, this mindset does not allow for its full healing benefits to be evidenced. Instead, in most cases, doctors settle for “standard of care,” bypassing a potentially safer and more effective treatment (IV vitamin therapy).

Like UBI, IV vitamin therapy was spawned in an earlier era where the focus wasn’t solely on pharmaceutical drugs, but rather, on discovering therapies that simply worked. Developed by Dr. John Myers from Baltimore in 1954, the most commonly utilized IV vitamin therapy protocol today is still the “Myers Cocktail.” Originally developed to assist with the treatment of asthma, fibromyalgia, and fatigue, this combination of saline, B Complex, B12, calcium, magnesium, and vitamin C is used for everything from an extra “pick me up,” to severe, life threatening conditions. IV vitamin therapy is administered directly into your bloodstream via intravenous infusion. Proponents of this treatment claim it enhances immune function, supports cellular repair, and improves overall health. The high doses of vitamins delivered intravenously bypass your digestive system. This allows for accelerated absorption, and higher concentrations in the blood, which can be beneficial in combating infections. According to Awaken Now Acupuncture and Wellness:?

“Through Vitamin IV therapy and IV infusions, we are able to administer critical nutrients to the body quickly and easily. On average taking vitamins and minerals orally allows us to only absorb 25-30% of the nutrient value, and that's IF our digestion is working at its optimum. When vitamins and other essential nutrients are delivered directly into the bloodstream, this bypasses the digestive tract, and therefore, our body is able to absorb 100% of the nutrients. With Vitamin IV therapy, nutrients and minerals work instantly, replenishing and revitalizing your body and organs from the inside out.”

One purported benefit of IV vitamin therapy is its potential to boost the immune system's response to pathogens. For example, vitamin C has been studied for its immunomodulatory effects, including its ability to enhance the function of immune cells such as T lymphocytes and phagocytes. Supporters of IV vitamin therapy argue that high-dose vitamin C administered intravenously can provide more significant immune support than oral supplementation, delivered instantly to the bloodstream. Dr. Thomas Levy, board certified cardiologist and attorney said:?

“Vitamin C is an absolute virucide, that means, in a test tube, if you have a virus and you have vitamin C, the virus is dead.”?

An article in the Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance, “Possible application of high-dose vitamin C in the prevention and therapy of coronavirus infection” noted:?

“Viral infections such as SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and many others are usually associated with increased oxidative stress leading to oxidative cellular and tissue damage resulting in multiorgan failure. Vitamin C has demonstrated favourable therapeutic properties and a good safety profile throughout a wide range of clinical applications. Administration of high-dose vitamin C as a therapeutic agent can favourably impact patients with viral pneumonia and ARDS in severe SARS-CoV-2 infection by decreasing inflammation and pathogen infectiveness and virulence, optimising immune defence, reducing tissue and organ injury, and improving the overall outcome of the disease.”

A study on the use of Vitamin C in the treatment of sepsis reported:?

“Sepsis, a life-threatening organ dysfunction due to a dysregulated host response to infection, is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Decades of research have failed to identify any specific therapeutic targets outside of antibiotics, infectious source elimination, and supportive care. More recently, vitamin C has emerged as a potential therapeutic agent to treat sepsis. Vitamin C has been shown to be deficient in septic patients and the administration of high dose intravenous as opposed to oral vitamin C leads to markedly improved and elevated serum levels. Its physiologic role in sepsis includes attenuating oxidative stress and inflammation, improving vasopressor synthesis, enhancing immune cell function, improving endovascular function, and epigenetic immunologic modifications. Multiple clinical trials have demonstrated the safety of vitamin C and two recent studies have shown promising data on mortality improvement.”

Dr. Mordeána Williams, owner of VitaMineral IV Therapy Drip Center in New York City, opened her IV vitamin therapy clinic during a time that she identified as crucial to jumpstart people's immune systems. She stated, “I started [the center during] COVID because I realized so many people got sick because they thought they were healthy.” For instance, vitamin D plays an important role in regulating appropriate immune responses in your body, and a deficiency can make you vulnerable to infections. In fact, a recent review in Antioxidants, concluded “a deficiency in vitamin D3 may increase COVID-19 infection risk, as well as the severity of the illness.”

Additionally, IV vitamin therapy often includes hydration, which is crucial for maintaining adequate fluid balance and supporting your body's detoxification processes. Proper hydration can help flush toxins from your body and support organ function, which may be beneficial during a time of illness. Furthermore, IV vitamin therapy is sometimes combined with other treatments, such as ozone therapy or ultraviolet blood irradiation, which advocates claim can synergize its effectiveness in fighting infections. Ozone therapy, which uses medical grade ozone gas to promote healing though cellular regeneration, is used as a stand alone therapy or in conjunction with the above therapies, as well as other modalities such as chiropractic care.

Giving UBI or IV Vitamin Therapy a Try?

While the potential to use vitamins and minerals intravenously exists, the studies and practical application thereof, when considering treatment for pathogenic infections, is limited in a clinical setting. However, looking at the Merck Manuals (the pharmaceutical company's book of diagnosis and corresponding therapies), the use of the Myers Cocktail for varying conditions may include “asthma, allergies, chronic sinusitis, high blood pressure, fibromyalgia, diabetes, heart disease, acute muscle spasms, and Parkinson disease.” It can also be used to “boost the immune system.” As of 2020, there were at least 13 clinical trials being conducted, investigating the use of Vitamin C (oral and IV) for use against COVID-19, coronaviruses, and pneumonia. The decision to look at vitamin C seriously is most likely due to the existing studies showing the efficacy of vitamin C against viruses.The findings for the COVID-19 studies are still pending. While the benefits of IV vitamin therapy are mounting, there are potential risks to consider.?

As with any IV, the possibility of infection at the injection site, vein irritation, and allergic reactions exists. Electrolyte imbalance was the one danger associated specifically with the IV vitamin therapy. Additionally, high doses of some vitamins and minerals can lead to toxicity, especially if administered indiscriminately, without proper monitoring by a trained medical professional. Attention must also be given to the possibility of subpar ingredients used in treatments. Some intravenous vitamin solutions contain preservatives (like parabens), especially in multi-use vials. One potential concern is that most of the vitamin C on the market is made from GMO (genetically modified) corn. Seek out non-GMO IV vitamin C made from cassava root for a better quality product.

In conclusion, ultraviolet blood irradiation and IV vitamin therapy hold promise as therapeutic options for treating mild to severe pathogenic infections. While you may experience tremendous benefits from these therapies, the evidence supporting their widespread use in infection management is lacking. As further research is needed to quantify their healing potential, and to refine and standardized treatment protocols, the existing evidence supports the inclusion of UBI therapy and IV vitamin therapy as part of the armamentarium—medicines, equipment, and techniques—against infectious diseases. Whether as a stand alone treatment or used in conjunction with conventional modalities, it’s difficult to dismiss the potential these therapies have in treating prophylactically, or in cases that will not yield to mainstream methods. Therefore, it's crucial to be made aware of and potentially utilize any and all treatment options with an integrative healthcare specialist. With continued investigation and innovation, UBI and IV vitamin therapy are emerging as safe and valuable therapies in the fight against drug-resistant pathogens and potential infectious threats.

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