A kambo cleanse, also known as a kambo circle or kambo ceremony, kambo, vacina-do-sapo, or sapo, is a purge using skin secretions of the kambô, a species of frog. The effects on humans usually include nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea; multiple deaths have been associated with its use. Kambo, which originated as a folk medicine practice among indigenous peoples of the Amazon, is also administered as an alternative medicine treatment in the West, often as a pseudoscientific cleanse or detox. The ceremony involves burning an arm or leg and applying the kambo secretion directly to the burn. Proponents claim that kambo helps with a number of illnesses or injuries, but there is no scientific evidence that it is an effective treatment of any kind.
History
Kambo is traditionally practiced by Panoan-speaking indigenous groups in the southeast Amazon rainforest, such as the Mayoruna, Matses, Amahuaca, Kashinawa, Katukina, Yawanawá and the Kaxinawá. Traditional practitioners claim that it aids fertility, cleanses the body and soul, increases strength and brings good luck on hunts. They use it for expelling "panema", and to induce abortions. Since the mid-20th-century, kambo has also been practiced in urban regions of Brazil. In 2004, Brazil banned the sale and marketing of kambo. Import is illegal in Chile. Outside of South America, it first became popular as an alternative therapy in the late 2010s. In non-indigenous use, the frog secretion is described and marketed as a "detox" treatment, cleanse, purge, and as a "vaccine" which is "good for everything". Kambo has been marketed both as a "scientific" remedy, with emphasis on the biochemistry, and as a "spiritual" remedy, with emphasis on its indigenous origins. Purging has been a popular treatment since the 1800s. "Detox" has been described by Edzard Ernst, emeritus professor of complementary medicine, as a term for conventional medical treatments for addiction which has been "hijacked by entrepreneurs, quacks and charlatans to sell a bogus treatment".
The ceremony
"Kambô" is a common name of Phyllomedusa bicolor, an Amazoniantree frog also known as the blue-and-yellow frog, bicolored tree-frog, giant monkey frog, giant leaf frog or waxy-monkey tree frog. To collect the secretions for the ceremony, a frog is caught, then tied tightly to four sticks placed in the ground, and its limbs stretched between the sticks. This causes the frog to become stressed enough to activate its defence mechanism, and secrete a substance containing peptides from its skin. Once the secretions has been scraped off the frog it is usually released back into the wild. The secretions are then left to dry. In native use, small dots are deliberately burned on the skin, and a small dose of the frog secretions is applied to the open wounds. Outside South America, a kambo ceremony can involve just two people, the practitioner and participant, or a number of participants at once, which is known as a kambo circle. Participants are encouraged to bring plenty of water, a towel and a bucket. There are usually yoga mats on the floor and the ceremony room, which is often the practitioner's living room, is heavily incensed. During the ceremony the skin of the participant is deliberately burnt multiple times, usually on the upper arm or leg, by the practitioner using a smouldering stick or vine. The frog secretions, which have been reconstituted with saliva or water, are then pasted on to the burnt skin. Outside South America, the ceremony is performed in a group or circle, where the participants are encouraged to shout ":wiktionary:viva|Viva" when one of them vomits into their bucket. Short-term effects include violent nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, edema of the face, headaches, and tachycardia. The secretions seem to be vasoactive, which may explain why they are absorbed so rapidly. In native practice, the secretions are removed from the wounds after 10 to 15 minutes, ending the acute symptoms. Joaquim Luz, a Yamanawa leader, criticized commercial sales and the use of kambo without the preparation or permission of indigenous peoples, saying that users were put at risk, including the risk of death. Other native groups have also expressed concerns.
Claims
Users and practitioners of kambo claim that the alternative medicine helps with a wide variety of issues and conditions. These claims include treating addiction, depression, and chronic pain, reducing fevers, increasing fertility, boosting energy and physical strength, and improving mental clarity. It is also claimed that kambo removes negative energy and cleanses the soul and body. There is currently no scientific basis to these claims. There is no solid medical evidence on how the frog toxins work, whether they are useful for treating anything, and whether they can be used safely: no clinical trials have tested them on humans, as of 2019. Reports of adverse events are numerous, including for use with experienced guidance. Kym Jenkins of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, in a Sydney Morning Herald article, said "people with mental illness are a more vulnerable group anyway for a variety of reasons. If you're feeling very anxious or very depressed... you're automatically more vulnerable and you could be more susceptible to people advertising or marketing a quick fix. I do have concerns that people can be preyed upon when they are more vulnerable." Kambo has been described by a toxicologist as a risky, potentially life-threatening procedure.
Pharmacology
The frog secretes a range of small chemical compounds of a type called peptides, which have a number of different effects. Peptides found in the frog secretions include dermorphins and deltorphins, which bind to opioid receptors, sauvagine, a vasodilator, and dermaseptin, which exhibits antimicrobial properties in vitro. Various other substances such as phyllomedusin, phyllokinin, caerulein, and adrenoregulin are also present. There is active medical research into the peptides found in the skin secretions of Phyllomedusa bicolor, focusing on discovering their biological effects. There have been some preclinical trials in mice and rats, but no phase-1 tests or clinical trials of safety in humans, as of 2019.
Notable deaths
In Brazil in 2008, a person was charged with illegal exercise of medicine and felony murder after administering kambo toxins to a business colleague, who died; the deceased's son, who said his father had pressured him into participating, suffered more minor effects. In Chile in 2009, Daniel Lara Aguilar, who suffered from chronic discopathy, died immediately after taking kambo administered by a local shaman in a mass healing cermony; the autopsy was inconclusive due to pre-existing conditions. The medical literature reported the 2018 case in Italy of a person with no known preexisting conditions besides obesity, who seems, according to autopsy reports, to have died of cardiac arrhythmia while under the effects of kambo use. In March 2019, kambo practitioner Natasha Lechner suffered a cardiac arrest and died while receiving kambo. In April 2019, a homicide investigation was opened into the death by "severe cerebral edema" of a young person who had taken kambo toxins in Chile; the import of the frog and its secretions is illegal in Chile.
