I don't know about you but it seems to me that the bugs are getting nastier and uglier. Just like a bad date they seem to be more insistent and hang around much too long. Not only that, there seem to be a lot more of them loitering around the street corners just waiting to mug you. Something should be done, someone should pass a law! Invent a new drug! Now I'm not talking here about steely-eyed serial killers like Victor the Vicious Virus. No, I mean that gut wrenching, mucous producing oaf, Billy the Bacteria. But don't be fooled, Billy is a killer too, only the neighbourhood cops just don't seem to be able to smack him around like they used and he's getting too big for his boots.
As I look around me, wherever I go, I am struck by the numbers and frequency of people suffering some form of bacterial infection or other. Is it because the bugs have got smarter, or the world any dirtier than it was? Don't antibiotics work as well any more? Do too many of us have compromised immune systems? All or any of the above, it seems.
How the Bugs Get You....
Bacterial infections are caused by the presence and growth of micro-organisms that damage host tissue. The extent of infection is generally determined by how many organisms are present and how virulent (toxic) they are. Worldwide, bacterial infections are responsible for more deaths than any other cause. Symptoms include inflammation and swelling, pain, heat and loss of function. The most important risk factors are burns, severe trauma, low white blood cell counts, very old or young patients, patients on immuno-therapy, and anyone suffering from malnutrition or vitamin deficiency.
Bacteria are usually spread from an already infected person to the newly infected person. The most common invasion routes are inhalation of airborne bacteria, ingestion into the stomach from dirty hands or utensils or through contaminated food or water, direct contact with an infected area of another person's body (a pet can do it), contaminated blood and insect bite. Knowing this, makes you wonder why we're not all sick most of the time, doesn't it?
Actually, given half a chance your body is pretty good at defending itself. Your first line of defence includes naturally occurring chemicals found in tears, gastric acid of the stomach, pancreatic enzymes of the bowel and fatty acids in the skin. Your body's immune response only becomes involved if the infective organism manages to invade the body. Nonspecific immune response, your 2nd line of defence, consists primarily of inflammation, whereas specific immune response (your 3rd line of defence) relies on the activation of lymphocytes sending T- and B-cells to recognise the type of organism involved. T-cells marshal cytotoxic cells, which are then sent to destroy the organism, and B-cells produce the antibodies that destroy specific types of bacteria.
Your Very Own Starfleet
But a word of warning. While it may be true that inside each and every one of us there is the most sophisticated and brutal killing machine, whose ferocity makes Ghengis Khan look like Tinkerbell, we have nevertheless found an equal match in Billy B, who proliferates like a cosmic bunny rabbit and morphs like the Hydra. Our white blood cells may majestically cruise our circulatory system like a shining 'Battleship Galactica' sending out myriad scouts and starfighters (look at your blood sometime under dark field microscopy on screen in glorious technicolor and you'll see what I mean. Its awesome!), but if your Starfleet is in disrepair or undermanned you can be overrun by sheer numbers and the devious cunning of an unscrupulous and merciless invader.
You gotta built up your Starfleet! Even if like me you have a particularly aggressive immune system (on the few occasions I get struck down by a bug I'm usually back on my feet in 24 hours and my Beloved looks at me like I'm some kind of mass murderer), sometimes it just ain't enough. Some acute bacterial infections are so virulent that unless you identify them correctly and zap them with the right antibiotic pronto, you can be in trouble, Big Time! I know most doctors are 'nutritionally challenged' and many of you quite rightly try to avoid taking antiB's unnecessarily, but when you got a Big Problem you need Big Medicine. Don't hang about, go see your doctor.
Big Problem, Big Medicine
Acute bacterial infections require immediate conventional medical care. If US FDA-approved drugs don't work check out what European antibiotics are available. The Europeans are several years ahead of the US when it comes to antibiotics. Worth remembering that.
When antibiotics were discovered in the 1940's they were incredibly effective in the treatment of bacterial infections. Over time many antibiotics have lost their effectiveness against increasing numbers of bacteria as resistant strains have developed. Now we have potentially fatal bacterium like "staph" which fail to respond to the most powerful antibiotic we have, vancomycin. That is a big worry. Also worrying is that it is occurring independently and simultaneously in various countries around the world. It seems that Billy the Bacteria is graduating from street lout to organised crime and is hellbent on Murder Incorporated. And where is our very own Elliott Ness? Well, the good news is the Untouchables are hard at work in the labs cooking up new wonder drugs. Unfortunately it is a pretty even match. For every new advance Billy B morphs into something more threatening.
As antibiotic resistance becomes ever more global we are having to rely on new drugs, the latest known as aminoglycosides, which are naturally derived or synthesised from other micro-organisms. Their broad antimicrobial spectrum and ability to act synergistically with other drugs make them highly effective - for now.
If faced with a life-threatening resistant infection the last line of defence is called Vancomin (vancomycin). This is a very nasty potentially lethal drug with many side-effects that doesn't work orally and has to be injected. Only for when all else fails.
Mother Nature to the Rescue!
Happily researchers around the world are now substantiating what many of us already knew long ago, and are taking a harder look at folk medicine, herbal remedies and other alternatives to pharmacological drugs. Research now confirms the antibacteriological value of herbal extracts from many parts of the world. Goldenseal and echinacea are effective natural antibiotics. Raw garlic has potent antibacterial effects. Kyolic (aged garlic) does not kill bacteria directly but boosts immune function. Alklglycerols (AKGs) found in freshwater fish and in cow, sheep and mother's milk play a crucial role in the production and stimulation of white blood cells. AKGs are what help give nursing mammals, including breast fed babies, protection against infection until their own immune systems kick in. They act as immune boosters against infectious diseases. Suggested dosage being up to 100mg 3 x per day. Shark liver oil capsules containing a minimum of 200 mg of AKGs per cap at a dose of 5 caps per day have a direct antibiotic effect. But, do not take it for more than a month at any one time since it can lead to over-production of blood platelets. Bromelain, a digestive enzyme, enhances the effects of conventional antibiotics making them more effective in killing bacteria. A suggested dose of 2,000mg should be taken per day with meals. The amino acid Arginine stimulates antibacterial components of the immune system when taken in doses ranging from 6 to 20 gms per day. Arginine promotes the synthesis of nitric oxide which is particularly effective in protecting you from bacterial infections of the lung (pneumonia). Fruit juice: Cranberry is an effective agent against urinary tract infections (UTIs). It also helps prevent the formation of dental plaque leading to tooth decay.
Now don't go rushing down the supermarket and buy yourself a great big jar of cranberry juice. Its almost certainly chock full of sugar and you'd need to drink a bucket of it. Probably do you more harm than good. No, what you want is a concentrated powdered extract with one single cap giving you the equivalent of 16 x 8-oz glasses.
Honey and Bee Propolis. Before the discovery of antibiotics, honey was known to have antibacterial properties. Research now confirms this and that bee propolis has a potent antibacterial effect. But don't give bee products to kids under 3 years. And lastly trace elements, particularly zinc, 90 to 120 mg a day, encourages antiseptic agents and is also critical in the maintenance of a healthy immune system.
Ironically, the advent of the new "miracle drugs", the antibiotics developed in the 1940's and since, has also set the stage for drug-resistant bacteria that do not respond to antibiotics. Avoiding or neutralising bacterial infections requires a strong, effective immune response. Modern medicine now accepts the preventative benefits to be had from herbal and natural alternatives.
In addition to the above the most effective thing you can do preventatively to avoid bacterial and viral infections and to keep your Starfleet honed in killer mode is to take a daily 'multi' and a smart herbal 'cocktail'. Its good to do it in multis because otherwise you're going to be popping pills and powders all day. Nobody wants to do that. But, and its a big BUT, they've got to be comprehensive formulations and the dosages need to be in a therapeutic amount. The multi I take, for example, has 64 ingredients in it and the herbal 'cocktail' has 34. That just about takes care of most things. And no, one tab a day doesn't do it. Dream on!
They Can't Take that Away from You.....
And another thing, the best formulations come from the US. That's not because I'm American, I'm not, or because Australia and Europe don't produce some good individual ingredients. No, its because the vested interests in Oz and Euroland, that is to say: Big Pharma, the medical establishments, the purveyors of cheap supplements have all got into bed with the respective government regulatory bodies and have been passing laws that progressively prevent you from buying anything over the counter of sufficient strength to do you any good. Dietary supplements are being classified as if they were drugs. "Its for your own good", they say. Believe that, and you'll believe anything.
Unfortunately in Australia and Europe they've largely gotten away with it already. The Ozzies are even ramming the same legislation down the throats of the poor Kiwis, who for some reason have to follow suit. Not enough people know, not enough people care. But in America I'm glad to say the public is sufficiently well-informed and sufficiently powerful to see the rogues on their way with a raspberry. That's why, wherever I am I get the important stuff I want sent to me from the US for my private consumption. So far, that's a right no government in the free world has had the bottle to take that away from us.
So, keep your Starfleet in good nick. Think of your immune system as your very own pack of sleek Rhodesian Ridgebacks trained to seek out and kill. Sense inside you the Manichean struggle of good against evil, a Crusade waged as long as you shall draw breath (I'm afraid they git you in the end). Meantime, have you ever seen a blow-up of the enemy? Ugh! They are Ugleee. They are Eee-vil! And want to Kill You! They Deserve to Die! This is a Good War and one you can fight unreservedly. No mealy-mouthed New Age posturings! Think of it like that and it can even be fun.
Think of your immune system as your very own pack of sleek Rhodesian Ridgebacks, every instict honed to seek out and kill.....
