Are infectious diseases really gone?
We live our lives in a mass of bacteria, viruses, fungi: inhaling thousands of them with each breath, and swallowing millions of them through our meals. In the intestine, several kilograms of bacteria, virus and fungi lives, reproduce, exchange, we touch anything (handshake, public transport, toilet door, light switch etc.), we massively take it by touching our mouth, eyes, skin, enters our body and we embrace new type of microorganisms that are less typical to us, some of which can be very dangerous. The microorganisms that enter our environment and our body are increasingly dangerous species, while the microorganisms that live with us and provide protection against the former are becoming poorer and weaker – and a huge contributing factor to this lifestyle is meat eating, overuse of medicine treatments, the immoderate tourism to all parts of the world. Humans are always defenceless against pathogens they do not know, so the emergence of new pathogens can cause mass diseases even today.
The costs of keeping and consuming animals
Throughout history humans have been the most feared of unpredictable epidemics. These diseases were transmitted by pathogens, mainly bacteria, viruses, parasites. Hundreds of millions have died of smallpox, plague, Spanish flu, tuberculosis, cholera or epidemic polio. Humanity seems to have started a huge pathogen dumping primarily through livestock farming. For example, tuberculosis could be obtained by domesticating goats. Tuberculosis is still responsible for the deaths of millions and is estimated to infect a third of humanity. Measles, which can still cause epidemics and deaths in neighbouring Romania or Germany, may have originated from bovine viruses. Whooping cough was transmitted with pig farming, typhus and influenza was transmitted to humans with poultry farming, but also common cold came from animals, from the domesticating of wild horses
But animals still spread infectious diseases that are dangerous to humans. They have found that eggs can cause salmonella infection even if they are fried or cooked for up to 8 minutes, but salmonella infects through chicken meat also. In the household where chicken meat is used, it is certain that all kitchen utensils are infected with salmonella, with E. faecalis, with E. faecium, with E. coli or with Campylobacter. For example, these pathogens may be responsible for urinary tract infections or diarrhoea that are so common in women today. At McGill University they made follow up studies that revealed that 90% of poultry in slaughterhouses are infected with these pathogens, and these pathogens are now found in the urine of women who process the meat on the family kitchen table. There was also a phase in the research where the family disinfected all touched utensils after making the chicken, but the pathogens were still found on the kitchen utensils, on the handle and the light switches in the house. So not necessarily eating meat, but just touching it is enough to spread a disease.
Another very common new bacteria is Clostridium difficile, which affects millions of people every year, causing severe inflammation of the colon called pseudomembranous colitis. The disease is typically obtained in hospital wards, where antibiotics are often unnecessarily used, but it has turned out to be only one-third of the infections.
The other source is meat, during the preparation of poultry, beef and pork the person becomes infected and infects the whole household and then the family. The C. difficile enters the intestine, where it does not necessarily cause immediate serious illness, as a healthy intestinal flora keeps it neutralised for a long time. However, if it is injured, it can cause severe conditions, acute inflammations that is not responsive to any medication or for example can produce toxic megacolon. The latter can be fatal up to 50%. Most pathogens die when cooking or roasting meat. C. difficile is not necessarily because it can withstand up to 2 hours of baking or cooking, so with a regular barbecue is almost certain to remain contagious. If there are alcoholic hand disinfectants that kill 99.99% of the pathogens, then C. difficile belongs to the 0.01% that after a hand disinfection can be safely passed on even with a hand shake.
During the examination of the faecal flora I find more and more frequently the presence of Clostridium which, unfortunately is very difficult, almost impossible to remove from the intestine. This requires months of natural remedies and lifestyle programs, but re-infection is common.
Insects are more and more infected
The infestation of insects in our environment is increasing. Ticks, flies, mosquitoes, mites, spiders, lice, fleas can infect humans with not only one type of pathogen, but also several pathogens that have rarely been studied in the country. Our immune system does not protect us from the bite, only from the strength of the infection, at the same time, fast action, strengthening of the body, a quick clarification of the situation can help a great deal in minimizing the course of the disease.
Significance of the immune system
The importance of having a healthy immune system to protect against infections is no better demonstrated than being infected with HIV, which also comes from animals, from an African monkey breed (started by the massacre of the bush meat trade). After being infected with HIV, people get AIDS, in which normal microorganisms that are common to humans, and which are only beneficial to humans, can cause disease in the intestine or skin and mucous membranes that we ordinary people are completely protected from because of our healthy immune system. Thus, the immune system is capable of protecting or in the case of disfunction deadly sickening the body, and this is not only true for AIDS patients. The immune system fights thousands of invading pathogens every minute, most often successfully, so it is important if we are in optimal physical, fitness, nutrition, mental state, not too stressed, overworked, too soft, too irresponsible.
Approximately 95% of infections start from the mucous membrane: from the mouth, stomach, intestine, nose, eyes, vagina etc. These surfaces are protected by IgA-type antibodies, which protect the body against invading bacteria and viruses from the side of the immune system. Maximizing IgA levels (up to 50% higher) requires exercise three times a week and / or plant based nutrition. The consumption of algae, yeast or edible fungi also increases IgA activity.
I often measure IgA levels in the gut by laboratory tests and find that for Clostridium-infected, IgA levels have almost always fallen below normal.
Our immune system is also able to fight deeper infections for which there is no cure in medicine: it produces antibodies (IgM, IgG), interferon, or kills infections with certain cells, e.g. killer cells. However, in the case of reduced immune function life-threatening or life-long symptoms of infection may occur.
The end days of antibiotics
In the 20th century, medical science suggested that with the discovery of vaccines and antibiotics, epidemics ended once and for all. Undoubtedly, some diseases have disappeared or significantly reduced, but countless diseases appeared that are not affected by antibiotics and cause mass diseases. The time can come soon when we will not have effective products for the most dangerous bacterial diseases.
The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has recently released alarming numbers: according to the report of New Scientist antibiotic-resistant bacteria are responsible for the deaths of 23,000 US citizens and the sickness of two million more patients each year. Antibiotic resistance has become a public health problem and needs immediate action. According to the CDC’s report, pressure must be placed on authorities to ban stockbreeders from the uncontrolled use of antibiotics. This widespread practice, which alone is responsible for 80 percent of antibiotic sales in the US, has been shown to increase the risk of developing resistant strains of bacteria. 50 percent of antibiotics used in hospitals and clinics are also unnecessarily used or prescribed, which also increases the risk of resistance. In order to reduce the risk significantly, all unjustified uses should be reduced, for example, by closing the loophole that makes it possible to feed antibiotics to healthy livestock (mainly meat and dairy cattle and pigs), with so-called preventative measures.
There are two ways of thinking about how to fight infectious inflammatory diseases in medical and lay circles. On one hand, what classic medicine suggests is that we take antibiotics, that kills the pathogens, and we heal. The other strategy, propagated mainly by those who support natural therapies, is to strengthen our body’s resistance and our immunedefenses defeat the pathogens, we heal. To anticipate, in my opinion antibiotics are needed sometimes, but it is still better if we all strive to regain or maintain our health according to the second strategy. The problem with the first one is that it is often applied unnecessarily (e.g. in case of viral diseases) or inadequately thoroughly (e.g. not for long enough) and thus more and more resistant (drug-resistant) bacteria multiplies. Later, when there is big trouble, these drugs no longer work. It is also a problem that they do harm, even normally, but even more so in the case of errors (e.g. if applied too often or too long). Surveys show that over 70% of antibiotics are prescribed incorrectly.
Antibiotics can save lives, no doubt. As drug companies have been developing little or no new antibiotics in recent years, and because bacterial resistance is increasing year by year, the protection guaranteed by these drugs is diminishing. It is a vain daydream nowadays to think that with irresponsible lifestyle our resistance ability can weaken even freely, and that drugs will save us. Just think of the epidemic in Germany that had more than thirty fatal victims, as a result of an infection by the EHEC bacteria, which was not sensitive to any antibiotic.
Antibiotics have many side effects. Most commonly they also kill the bacteria of the gut, other mucous membranes and the skin, that protect our normal body This causes our digestive system to deteriorate, abdominal complaints can appear, inflammation of the gut, vitamin B deficiency can be formed (because the bacteria that produce vitamin B may disappear), fungi can multiply. There are many other side effects in which the drug is poisoning the internal organs: hepatotoxic, renal toxic, blood-forming organ destroyer, muscle impairment, hearing impairment, tinnitus side effects. Allergy can be a serious side effect, which is typical on the case of penicillin and its derivatives.
In addition to clostridium, another characteristic consequence of over using the antibiotic uncontrolledly is candida, or yeast overgrowth. These pathogens often also persist after a good diet change (reduction of meat and dairy intake), and may cause continuous problems throughout life. These complaints can no longer be eliminated with antibiotics alone, but a multifaceted approach requires thorough research to create a balanced new flora that push out the microorganisms that caused the trouble.
On what cases of symptoms we should think about bacterial flora or fungal overgrowth?
Constant digestive complaints, bloating, stool problems, abdominal pain, returning inflammations (e.g. in urinary tract), persistent fatigue, muscle pain (fibromyalgia), persistent skin problems, fungal discharge, fungal nail, regular headache, menstruation problems.
In the event of such symptoms, with the next inflammation not antibiotics, but the restoration of normal flora is needed. Antibiotics produce more and more severe symptoms, making the patient’s life worse.
Pathogens that are medically difficult to treat
Aside from the drug-resistant, so called resistant bacteria there are other pathogens that cannot be killed by pathogens..
The number of viral diseases (HPV, HIV, influenza, EBV, hepatitis, herpes) are greatly increasing. Viruses can cause tumors such as liver cancer, Kaposi’s sarcoma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, uterine cancer, leukemia. Against viruses only a limited number and types of medicines are available. The best known drug is aciclovir, or against HIV and hepatitis are lamivudine, ribavirin. However, some of these drugs are inaccessible and extremely expensive. Important spreaders of these viruses are sexuality and drug enjoyment, but as an “end user” it is not just the overusers of sexuality and drug-enjoyers who become ill.
A group much worse and practically impossible to treat and kill are the so called prions that are the horrors of future healthcare. Prions are proteins that do not show any sign of life phenomenon, so they are not living things, but at the same time, near proteins they can also transform the existing ones into prions, that is to say, break down the original structure. Spongiform encephalopathy or kuru disease is such a disease, and they have to do with animal husbandry.
Fungi also belong to the difficult to handle group. Fungi typically grows stronger after antibiotics are used, but they also multiply due to sweets and other poor eating habits. Fungi appear first in the intestine, later on the skin, mucous membranes, vagina and on the nails. In my opinion, neither only the so called Candida diet, nor only the medicine (local or general) helps. In a long, laborious struggle, they can be eliminated from the body by a combination of the two treatments.
Solution
What can we do instead of antibiotics? The most can be done to support the body and the correct bacterial balance is by detoxifying the body, relieving strain and plant-based diets. With the help of colon-hydrotherapy we can wash out billions of pathogenic bacteria from the intestinal flora. There are countless herbs such as garlic, aloe vera, liquorice, thyme, olive leaf, tea tree, lapacho, etc. which are antibacterial but not harmful. Others enhance resistance, such as hemp-agrimony, echinacea, linden, mullein, etc. With the help of pro- and prebiotics, good bacteria can be reintroduced into the digestive system. Consuming plenty of fluids, taking high doses of antioxidants, using essential oils, sweating therapies, wraps, and exercise programs can all help, depending on the place and nature of the inflammation.
The age of irresponsible use of antibiotics is finished. Now we know that any unnecessary use of antibiotics increases the risk of disease. As we can see, meat production makes matters worse, not only because the meat is unhealthy but also because it contributes to the unappeasable bacterial antibiotic-resistance. Simple, healthy life, high level of thinking, that’s what everyone needs, even the doctor!
Source: my article in Naturopath magazine
