Ozone in the atmosphere is one of the most important gases in the Earth’s stratosphere (10-50 kilometers above the ground surface). Maximum concentrations of up to 1 part O3 per 100,000 parts air (approximately 10 ppm) are found in the ozonosphere at altitudes of 20 to 30 kilometers.
This ozone layer acts as a filter for high-energy UV radiation from the sun, thereby protecting the earth’s biological balance from damage due to harsh radiation. When this layer is damaged (“Ozone Gap”), the filter effect cannot function.

The first medical application appears to have been the use of ozone to treat post-traumatic gas gangrene in German soldiers during World War 1. A major step forward was the discovery of a reliable ozonizer for medical purposes by physicist Joachim Hansler (1908-1981). The idea of ​​using ozone in medicine developed slowly over the last century and was fueled by the lack of antibiotics and ozone’s disinfectant properties.

World War 2 brought setbacks to German research in the field of medical ozone, as many clinics and laboratories were destroyed by Allied air raids. It was not until the 1950s that the clinic reopened and research began again.

The first doctor to treat cancer with ozone was Dr. W. Zable in the late 1950s, followed by Drs. P. G. Seeger, A. Varro, and H. Werkmeister. Over the next twenty years, hundreds of German physicians began using ozone in their practices (both on its own and as a complement to traditional medical therapy) to treat a wide variety of diseases through a number of applications.

Horst Kief is believed to be the first doctor to use ozone therapy to successfully treat patients infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Medical ozone is produced from pure medical oxygen via silent-electrical-discharge and can be applied in the form of an ozone/oxygen mixture at the right concentration and dose.

The concentration range is between 1 – 100 ug/ml corresponding to an oxygen/ozone mixture at a ratio between 0.05% O3 and 99.95% O2 to between 5% O3 and 95% O2. Because the O3 molecule is unstable, medical ozone is always generated on site each time before application (freshly Made).

1. Ozone can produce different effects according to the concentration chosen and the method of administration. In medical practice the most important are the following:

   Bactericidal, fungicide and virucidal. Ozone can destroy almost all types of bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa and several types of cancer cells in the early stages. The use of therapeutic ozone concentrations provides a bactericidal effect that indirectly activates non-specific defense systems (activation of phagocytosis, increased synthesis of cytokine-interferon, interleukin tumor necrotic factor) as well as components of cellular and humoral immunity. There is reported evidence of partial oxidation of the viral receptor rendering it incapable of binding to the virus.

2. Anti-Inflammatory. This effect is seen in the ability of ozone to oxidize compounds containing double bonds, arachidonic acid and its derivatives, especially prostaglandins. These biologically active substances are involved in the development and maintenance of inflammatory processes. In addition, ozone regulates metabolic reactions in tissues at the site of inflammation and regulates pH.

3. Analgesic effect. This effect is exerted through the oxidation of albuminolysis products, called algopeptides. They act on the nerve endings in the damaged tissue and determine the intensity of the pain response.

4. Detoxification effect. This effect is expressed in the correction reactions and activation of metabolic processes in the liver and kidney tissues, thereby ensuring their main function of neutralization and evacuation of toxic compounds from the organs.

5. Activation of oxygen-dependent processes. Ozone doses, however low, cause an increase in free and dissolved blood oxygen content with rapid intensification of enzymes that catalyze the aerobic oxidation of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins with the formation of the energy substrate ATP. Of particular importance is the activation of mitochondrial H-ATP-ase which is responsible for the conjugation of respiratory processes and oxidative phosphorylation resulting in ATP synthesis.

6. Optimization of pro and antioxidant systems. This is considered one of the main effects of systemic ozone therapy that is realized through its influence on cell membranes and balancing the levels of lipid peroxidation products and antioxidant defense systems.

7. Hemostatic effect of ozone. This effect is dose dependent. Administration of high concentrations for external use causes a pronounced hypercoagulation effect, whereas parenteral administration of low concentrations is characterized by a decrease in the level of platelet and coagulative hemostasis and an increase in fibrinolytic activity.

8. Immune modulating effects of ozone. This effect is based on the interaction with the lipid structure of cell membranes and depends on the dose chosen.