Ozone gas therapy: potentials in veterinary medicine

Ozone therapy has been used for overa hundred years already and developed on an empirical basis in humans. Much of the available information for non-medical practitioners are largely anecdotal, and for medical practitioners, inconclusive. This paper presented the growing specific data available in the medical literature as evidence of the therapys' safety and effectiveness in a wide variety of human diseases. Most, if not all, of the presented data are in the form of reviews, case reports, experiments or controlled clinical trials published in reputable scientific journals. It also presented evidence about its toxicity, lack of efficacy and even uselessness. There are only a few, available literature about ozone therapy in veterinary medicine. The author reported herein his published and unpublished data about in vitro and in vivo ozone therapy in dogs and dairy cattle. The results of his preliminary studies on the effects of the therapy on neu trophil ptragocytosis showed variable results for canine blood. In one of his publications regarding the in vitro administration of ozone gas on bovine blood and milk, he demonstrated that ozone administration in vitro has positive and negative effects on the phagocytic activities of polymorphonuclear cells, depending on the health status of the animal. Negative effects were observed in blood from apparently healthy cows while positive effects were observed in theblood of cows with mastitis and milk fever, and also in the milk of cows with mastites'. he also attempted the intramammary infusion of ozone gas in mastitic quarters of dairy cows. This technique showed that completer remission of mastitis occurred only in two out of five cows treated with ozone gas. Based on available information to date, the issues regarding ozone therapy are discussed, then the potentials of ozone therapy for use in veterinary medicine are assessed.