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ANTIBIOTICS:
WONDER DRUGS GONE AWRY
Article by herbalist
Dave
Hawkins, MH, CNC
With the kids preparing
to head back to school, many of you might be considering
how you can beat the bugs that are inevitably passed around
from student to student. The media is promoting the flu
vaccine, which we will discuss a bit later in this article,
but before we go there let's look at history and the
development of antibiotic thinking.
We'll look at some of
the recent problems with the overuse of antibiotics and
discuss some natural remedies that bolster a healthy immune
system.
Taber's Cyclopedic Medical
Dictionary states that an
antibiotic is a natural or synthetic
substance that destroys
microorganisms or inhibits their growth. Antibiotics are
used to treat infectious diseases in plants, animals and
humans.
Louis Pasteur
is credited with the discovery that bacteria spread
infectious disease. He discovered this during the late
1800's and this became the basis for the germ theory as the
cause of disease in modern day medical thinking.
A
colleague of his, Antoine Bechamp, disputed Pastuers theory
at the time. Bechamp believed that the spread of disease
was more a result of a favorable environment called the
"terrain". These gentlemen battled for years trying to
argue their point of view. Before they both died however
they came to an agreement that they were both correct in
their thinking. Germs do cause disease but germs need the
proper environment to be able to grow. However by the time
this happened the medical community at the time had already
accepted the Pasteur approach and Bechamps ideas were
rejected.
This thinking
of course led to the development of antibiotics in the
1930's and antibiotics have been called the “wonder drugs”
of the 20th century. That analogy has changed over the last
few years especially since the onset of newer
broad-spectrum antibiotics being used to treat all types of
conditions.
The medical community is
well aware of antibiotic resistant organisms. Diseases that
were eradicated many years ago are coming back with a
vengeance, such as, tuberculosis, gonorrhea, staph, strep,
pneumonia and enteroccoci. Current medical research is
having difficulty finding ways to treat these new strains
of bacteria. I also want to clarify the antibiotics are
life saving especially in the proper circumstances. It is
when they have been used inappropriately that this
resistance has been able to develop.
Overly
prescribed antibiotics are part of the problem. Antibiotics
treat bacteria not viruses. If you take an antibiotic for a
cold or flu it is not going to take care of the problem.
Antibiotics are also considered to be immune suppressive.
This means that they affect your own body’s immunity, in
sense weaken it especially when under viral attack.
The heavy use
of antibiotics in agriculture is another area of concern.
Farmers have been inoculating their animals with
antibiotics. Rather than isolate sick animals, modern
livestock practices routinely consume nearly 50 percent of
all antibiotics
manufacturered in this country by adding
them directly to the animal feeds.
Due to this
overuse of antibiotics, virulent strains of bacteria have
evolved and now pose a threat to human health without a way
to stop them.
Let's turn our
attention to viruses.
The word virus is the Latin word for
poison. Viruses adapt and evolve according to environmental
changes. A virus is little more than a clump of genetic
material (RNA and DNA) bunched inside a protein
package. It need a host to
survive and lies dormant until activated. A virus
infiltrates the human body and alters the
rna and dna of cells so that it
can survive and replicate. Some viruses are short lived
like colds, flus, sore throats etc. Others are
lifelong and will always reside
in us, such as, hepatitis, Epstein barr, HIV, etc.
Collectively viral infections represent the prime reason
people visit doctors for medical care.
The two most
prevalent viral infections are the common cold (rhinovirus)
with over 100 strains. It is responsible for over 50
percent of the common cold and upper respiratory tract
infections. The influenza virus is classified into three
areas A, B, and C. The most common form is influenza A and
usually it is epidemic in the late fall and winter.
This is the
reason that the flu vaccine has become so popular.
One
problem I see is that many folks still get some form of
influenza, even if inoculated, because of the different
types floating about. The vaccine is usually for the most
prevalent strain that researchers
think will hit. Of course the vaccine is probably a good
idea for those most at risk, which would include
those with
chronic pulmonary disease, valvular heart disease, and
immune compromised individuals.
Those elderly living in
care homes with a history of long-term illness.
Since we cannot
alter the fact that bacteria and viruses are around us all
the time, it makes sense to me that it is important to work
on changing the "terrain" as Bechamp expounded years ago.
How do we do this?
Specific foods and herbs have many
antibiotic and antiviral properties. This means that they
work to change the inner environment to resist them and
they work to bolster the immunity so that the body protects
itself. In traditional Chinese medicine the surface
immunity is called the "wei chi". A
strong wei chi is attained
through proper lifestyle habits and the use of specific
herbs. It is interesting that most infectious organisms
have a tendency to prefer sweet and acid conditions to be
able to grow. Think about how much sugar you might consume.
Many of the
herbs and foods have multiple properties and can be used to
reduce the risk of infections. They would include the use
of garlic, basil, oregano, thyme, and cayenne pepper to
mention some kitchen herbs that can be used in your
cooking. Others that you might be familiar with would
include echinacea, goldenseal,
astragalus, licorice root, elderberry,
St John's wort, the medicinal
mushrooms and olive leaf extract.
Next time you
feel the ill effects of the cold or flu consider what you
might have done to the your "terrain" and do some research
into the natural substances for relief. As one of my
teachers taught me, when you treat the body with natural
remedies it leaves the body stronger.
A good book to
consider is Natural Alternative
To Antibiotics by Ray C. Wunderlich,
MD.
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