Homeopaths are offering 'MMR alternative' that puts patients at risk, warn doctors

Homeopaths are offering alternatives to crucial vaccinations such as MMR, which could leave patients vulnerable to potentially fatal diseases, doctors have warned.

Three alternative practitioners have admitted they gave patients a homeopathic medicine designed to replace the triple Mumps, Measles and Rubella vaccine.

Homeopathy claims to treat disease symptoms by using greatly diluted forms of herbs and minerals, but the three practitioners said they could even prevent illness.

Homeopath Katie Jarvis, who is based in Inverness, said she offered 'homeopathic prophylaxis' to patients who said they were interested, which could be given 'instead of  or as well as the vaccination.'

'The alternative that I would offer would be a homeopathic remedy made from diseased tissue, that comes from someone with that disease, and then made into potentised form so that is given in a homeopathic remedy,' she said. 

When asked if the remedy she offered gave the same protection as the MMR, she said: 'I'd like to say that they were safer, but I can't prove that.'

Doctors said the practices, which were revealed by a BBC investigation, were 'extremely worrying'.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the British Medical Association's director of science and ethics, said:  'It could persuade families that their children are safe and protected when they're not. And some of those children will go on to get the illness and could even die.'

The findings emerged after the BBC spoke to the six members of the Homeopathic Medical Association in Scotland, which has 300 members in the UK.

Replacing conventional vaccines with homeopathic alternatives has been condemned by the Faculty of Homeopathy, who said there was no proof the remedies could prevent disease.
Source:Mailonline