I would think that Hypericum may help with some disorders, but Marek's is a cancer, and neuro symptoms are caused by tumors in the nerves. I don't think that there are medications that cure cancer or tumors and they continue to grow and spread. You have lost 4 chickens to paralysis, now 2 more show it. I myself would be searching for something that will help, it seems like vaccination is the only thing right now.
lol, they
are searching for something to help their paralyzed chickens, that's why they're here. The vaccination obviously won't save already symptomatic stock.
There's actually many things that cure cancers, both natural and artificial, though a whole spectrum of different actions.
...edit, I was wrong, it has been clinically tested*...
...if it gets some results, why not try. After all they're using it against symptomatic birds, not trying to use it to protect a flock against Marek's.
Vaccination does seem the only preventative in the short term but in the long run it's not showing much promise of being anything more than something that enables susceptible individuals to breed on and compels the virus to mutate into stronger forms. Still, vaccination is the only viable preventative solution right now that I'm aware of, asides from complete biosecurity, for those with birds that show no resistance or which are too valuable to expose to the potential risk.
Best wishes.
*EDIT: I stand corrected. The clinical research on St John's Wort shows it
is effective against both cancers/tumors of some kinds, and some types of viruses.
Quote: Quote:
11.6.3. Anticancer Properties
Hyperforin and hypericin have also been examined for their anticancer properties. According to
Schempp et al. (2002), hyperforin inhibits tumor cell growth in vitro. The mechanism involves induction of apoptosis (programmed cell death) through the activation of caspases, which are cysteine proteases that trigger a cascade of proteolytic cleavage occurrences in mammalian cells. Hyperforin also causes the release of cytochrome
c from isolated mitochondria. Mitochondrial activation is an early event in hyperforin-mediated apoptosis, and hyperforin inhibits tumor growth in vivo (
Schempp et al. 2002).
Schempp and his colleagues agreed that since hyperforin has significant antitumor activity, is readily available in high quantities (since it is naturally occurring in abundance), and has low toxicity in vivo, hyperforin holds promise of being an interesting novel antineoplastic agent. Other in vitro studies demonstrated that hyperforin in conjunction with polyphenolic procyanidin B2 effectively inhibited the growth of leukemia K562 and U937 cells, brain glioblastoma cells LN229, and normal human astrocytes (
Hostanska et al. 2003).
Hypericin has also been investigated as an anticancer agent, reportedly inhibiting the growth of cells derived from a variety of neoplastic tissues, including glioma, neuroblastoma, adenoma, mesothelioma, melanoma, carcinoma, sarcoma, and leukemia (
Fox et al. 1998).
The activity of hypericin is attributed to its photodynamic properties (
Agostinis et al. 2002). In the presence of light and oxygen, hypericin acts as a powerful natural photosensitizer, generating superoxide radicals that form peroxide or hydroxyl radicals, or singlet oxygen molecules that kill tumor cells.
In this way, hypericin can be used as a component of photodynamic therapy (PDT;
Agostinis et al. 2002). At first, PDT was used only for skin lesions, but it is becoming increasingly accepted as a treatment for many types of tumors.
Best wishes.
