(Newswire.net — June 6, 2016) — Many of us possess the understanding, that it is sometimes necessary to make serious changes to our habits and routines to experience healthiness that can be relied upon, at least most of the time. After all, who wants to be sick?
To avoid illness as much as possible, we must endeavor to gain access to information that provides instruction on, and helps us to develop a better understanding about, how to modify, reorganize, and then prioritize our options so that they are conducive to living a life that is healthier.
If our health is not our top priority, then our attempt to live a good quality of life has not gotten off to the right start, and needs to be recalibrated. Our health should remain one of the most important assets long before it is weakened, or deemed hopeless.
We live in a fast-food culture where grabbing a burger at the drive-through restaurant is certainly easier than a trip to the supermarket to buy healthy groceries, followed by going home to prepare a meal.
There are numerous things we do daily, ‘without thinking’ about how those habits might contribute to unwelcome invaders creeping into our bodies. We touch or put our hands in our mouths, nostrils, and eyes after making physical contact with many things in public places.
We shake people’s hands, then thoughtlessly grab a sandwich without washing our hands. And we walk barefooted in public places, for example. These undaunted intruders enter our homes and lives on and in people, food, contaminated water and surfaces, pets and pests.
Body invaders take on a greater level of significance when we observe their impact on our children when they are not feeling well.
However, interestingly, just as a baby’s brain needs stimulation, input and interaction to develop normally, the young immune system is strengthened by exposure to everyday germs (Not in excess or negligently, rather through the normal course of life exposure.) so that it can learn, adapt, and regulate itself, notes Thom McDade Ph.D., associate professor and director of the Laboratory for Human Biology Research at Northwestern University.
“Most of the germs lurking about our environment, and that live on our bodies are not only harmless, they have been with us for millennia,” states Martin Blaser M.D., professor of internal medicine at New York University.
As human behavior has changed over the past half century, many microbes, such as some that live in the gut, are disappearing. “These perform important and vital physiological functions. But because of modern life, they are changing, and some are disappearing. Those disappearances have consequences—some good, some bad,” explains Blaser.
It is advisable to organize our lives around a healthy lifestyle, environment, foods, and habits to strengthen and conserve a healthy immune system. By doing so, we are less likely to need medical treatment or antibiotics.
Past civilizations were constantly confronted with indiscernible health maladies, serious wounds and injuries, and fatal infectious diseases—some in catastrophic proportions.
For instance, the Black Plague, cholera and syphilis wreaked havoc on humanity. If antimicrobials or antibiotics had been available then, major plagues that wiped out millions of people would have had an outcome that was not quite as devastating.
More than 2,000 years ago, moldy bread was used in China, Egypt, Greece ad Serbia, and probably other ancient civilizations, as treatment for some unhealthy conditions, particularly infected wounds. At around 1550 B.C., Egyptians used honey, lard and lint for dressing wounds. We now know that honey actually contains substantial amounts of hydrogen peroxide which can kill bacteria.
Centuries afterward, Alexander Fleming, more notable for his discovery of penicillin in 1928, began to sort through petri dishes containing colonies of Staphylococcus, a bacteria that causes boils, sore throats, and abscesses. He noticed something unusual on one dish. It was dotted with colonies, and one of the areas had a blob of mold that was growing.
The zone immediately surrounding the mold was identified as a rare strain of Penicillium notatum. This mold had secreted something that inhibited bacterial growth. Fleming found that his ‘mold juice’ was capable of killing a wide range of harmful bacteria, such as streptococcus, meningococcus, and diphtheria bacillus.
It was difficult for Fleming to isolate pure penicillin from the mold juice. It proved to be unstable, and he was only able to prepare solutions of crude material to work with. His findings were published in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology in June, 1929.
Isolating penicillin-insensitive bacteria from penicillin-sensitive bacteria in a mixed culture remained a practical benefit to bacteriologists in that stage of investigation, and it is what kept interest in penicillin alive.
It was Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, and their colleagues at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford University who turned penicillin from a laboratory curiosity, into a life-saving drug. Their work on the purification and chemistry of penicillin began in earnest in 1939, just when wartime conditions were beginning to make research especially difficult.
The increasingly obvious value of penicillin in the war effort led the War Production Board (WPB) in 1943, to take responsibility for increased production of the drug. The WPB investigated more than 175 companies before selecting 21 to participate in a penicillin program under the direction of Albert Elder.
Merck, Pfizer and Squibb, and Abbott Laboratories (which had also been among the major producers of clinical supplies of penicillin to mid-1943) were among the first companies to begin large-scale production.
These firms received top priority on construction materials and other supplies necessary to meet the production goals. The WPB controlled the disposition of all of the penicillin produced.
One of the major goals was to have an adequate supply of the drug on hand for the proposed D-Day invasion of Europe. Feelings of wartime patriotism greatly stimulated work on penicillin in the United Kingdom and the United States.
For example, Albert Elder wrote to manufacturers in 1943: “You are urged to impress upon every worker in your plant that penicillin produced today will be saving the life of someone in a few days or curing the disease of someone now incapacitated. Put up slogans in your plant! Place notices in pay envelopes! Create an enthusiasm for the job down to the lowest worker in your plant.”
As publicity concerning this new ‘miracle drug’ began to reach the public, the demand for penicillin increased. But supplies at first were limited, and priority was given to military use.
Based on his laboratory observations, the famed penicillin discoverer Alexander Fleming had predicted in 1945, that misuse of this discovery could lead to the selection and propagation of ‘mutant forms of bacteria’ resistant to the drug. He warned that too small doses that fail to completely clear the infection would breed microbes ‘trained’ to resist the drug, which could then eventually be passed on to other susceptible individuals.
Against this warning, penicillin was eventually made freely available to the public, driven by the public clamor for this ‘miracle drug’, and the business opportunities that came along with this medical breakthrough. Various preparations of salves, lozenges, nasal ointments, and even cosmetic creams were sold over-the-counter.
As Fleming correctly foretold, bacterial resistance to penicillin slowly but steadily built up over the years. So much so, by 1955, most countries restricted the use of penicillin as ‘by prescription’ only. However, the uncontrolled usage was already widespread, and so is the observed resistance in several bacterial pathogens, particularly staphylococci.
A concerted effort was exerted by pharmaceutical companies to thwart this resistance, which eventually led to the discovery and introduction in the early 1960s of a semi-synthetic penicillin, called methicillin, which was insensitive to the bacterial enzymes that degrade penicillin.
Although this seemed to have initially controlled penicillin resistance in the years that followed, the subsequent emergence of resistance to methicillin, such as that seen in methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), is now a current problem faced in hospitals worldwide.
This resistance phenomenon is not restricted to penicillin alone. The same was observed for the other classes of antibiotics (i.e. Macrolides, Fluoroquinolones, Cephalosporins, Tetracyclines, and Aminoglycosides) which were subsequently discovered, and made commercially available to the public in the latter half of the 20th century.
In the recent years, this was made even more complicated by the fact that the observed development of antimicrobial resistance, has superseded the pace at which discoveries and development of better antibiotic treatments are made. This has become one of the major medical issues of concern in the 21st century.
But how do we know when we might need an antibiotic? When we are not feeling well, antibiotics are not always the answer. Taking antibiotics when we do not need them can be harmful.
There are two main types of organisms that cause infections: viruses and bacteria. Illnesses caused by viruses (especially in the nose and throat) are more common than illnesses caused by bacteria. Common maladies caused by viruses are colds, most sore throats, and most coughs.
Antibiotics are strong medicines that treat ‘bacterial’ infections. They ‘will not treat’ viral infections because they cannot kill viruses. We will get better when the viral infection has run its course.
Millions of bacteria normally live on the skin, in the intestines, and on the genitalia. The vast majority of bacteria do not cause disease, and many bacteria are actually helpful and even necessary for good health. These bacteria are sometimes referred to as ‘good bacteria’ or ‘healthy bacteria’.
Harmful bacteria that cause bacterial infections and disease are called ‘pathogenic bacteria’. Bacterial diseases/maladies occur when pathogenic bacteria get into the body and begin to reproduce and crowd out healthy bacteria, or grow in tissues that are normally sterile.
Harmful bacteria may also emit toxins that damage the body. Common pathogenic bacteria, and the types of bacterial diseases/conditions they cause include:
- Escherichia coli and Salmonella cause food poisoning.
- Helicobacter pylori cause gastritis and ulcers.
- Neisseria gonorrhoeae causes the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea.
- Neisseria meningitidis causes meningitis.
- Staphylococcus aureus causes a variety of infections in the body, including boils, cellulitis, abscesses, wound infections, toxic shock syndrome, pneumonia, and food poisoning.
- Streptococcal bacteria cause a variety of infections in the body, including pneumonia, meningitis, ear infections, and strep throat.
Bacterial diseases/conditions are contagious and can result in many serious or life-threatening complications, such as blood poisoning (bacteremia), kidney failure, and toxic shock syndrome.
Symptoms of bacterial diseases vary depending on the type of bacterial infection, the area of the body that is infected, and other factors, such as the patient’s age and health history.
The symptoms of bacterial disorders/maladies ‘can also resemble’ symptoms of other diseases, such as colitis, influenza, and viral infections. The classic symptom of a bacterial infection is a fever, although not all people with a bacterial infection will have a fever.
Bacterial disorder symptoms can include:
- Bloody urine and painful, frequent urination
- Diarrhea
- Flu-like symptoms (fatigue, fever, sore throat, headache, cough, aches and pains)
- Irritability
- Nausea and vomiting
- Pain such as joint, ear or abdominal pain
- Rashes, lesions and abscesses
- Stiff neck
- Weakness
In infants, signs of a bacterial ailment can also include:
- Bulging of the soft spot on the top of the head
- Difficulty with feeding
- Excessive crying or fussiness
- Excessive sleepiness
In some cases, bacterial illnesses can result in serious or life-threatening complications, such as sepsis or kidney failure. Seek immediate medical care (call 911) if you, or someone you are with, have any of the following symptoms:
- Confusion or delirium
- Deep, wet chest cough that produces yellow, green or brownish phlegm
- Difficulty breathing, wheezing or shortness of breath
- High fever (higher than 101 degrees)
- Inappropriate change in alertness or level of consciousness
- Infants: sunken fontanel (soft spot) on the top of the head, lethargy, no tears with crying, and few, or no wet diapers
- Lethargy or unresponsiveness
- Not urinating or urinating small amounts of tea-colored urine
- Seizure
Bacterial disorders occur when pathogenic bacteria get into an area of the body that is normally sterile, such as the bladder, or when they crowd out the beneficial/good bacteria in places such as the intestines, vagina or mouth. Less common, bacterial infections can occur when healthy bacteria multiply uncontrollably.
Pathogenic bacteria can enter the body through a variety of means including:
- Contamination of bites, cuts, rashes, abrasions and other breaks in the skin, gums and tissues
- Eating contaminated food
- Getting bitten by an infected insect
- Having sexual contact with an infected person
- Inhaling contaminated air-borne droplets or particulates into the nose and lungs
- Kissing an infected person
- Sharing needles for tattooing or drug use
- Through the eyes, ears or urethra
- Touching infected feces or body fluids, and not washing your hands before eating or touching your mouth, eyes or nose.
Once bacteria enter the body, a ‘healthy immune system’ will recognize the bacteria as a foreign invader, and will try to kill or stop the bacteria from reproducing (the majority of the immune system is in our gut). However, even in a healthy person, the body is not always able to stop the bacteria from multiplying and spreading.
As the harmful bacteria reproduce, they can crowd out healthy bacteria and microorganisms, and emit toxins that damage the cells of the body.
Bacterial maladies can occur in any age group or population, but a number of factors increase the risk of developing bacterial diseases. Not all people with risk factors will get a bacterial illness. Risk factors include:
- Being an infant, child or older adult
- Eating eggs or meats that are raw or undercooked
- Eating expired foods, or eating leftovers that have been stored for more than two to three days
- Having a genetic predisposition to bacterial infection
- Having a compromised immune system due to an immunodeficiency disorder, diabetes, cancer or cancer treatment, kidney disease, or from taking steroid medications
- Having a weak immune system because of unhealthiness
- Having a chronic disease
- Malnutrition or abusive diet
- Not washing your hands frequently, especially after using the bathroom, touching pet feces, handling reptiles, or touching raw foods or foods contaminated with bacteria
- Significant exposure to a person with a bacterial disease
You can lower your risk of developing or transmitting bacterial illnesses by:
- Avoiding contact with a person who has a bacterial disease or its symptoms, such as fever, vomiting or diarrhea
- Covering your mouth and nose with a tissue when sneezing or coughing, then washing your hands
- Defrosting foods in the refrigerator or microwave, not on the counter
- Refrigerating leftovers right away, and eating them within two to three days unless they have been frozen
- Eating a healthy diet that is high in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and contains adequate low-fat protein, including healthy calcium sources
- Getting enough rest and minimizing stress
- Follow your treatment plan for a chronic disease or condition
- Throwing out expired food or perishable food that has been sitting at room temperature for two hours or longer
- Using antibacterial products to clean surfaces, such as computer keyboards, telephones and sinks
- Washing your hands after using the bathroom and after contact with pet feces, reptiles, dirty diapers, raw foods, and people who are ill
- Washing plates, utensils, and cutting boards that have been exposed to raw meats or poultry in hot soapy water
- Wearing long pants and sleeves, and using insect repellant when in tall grass or wooded areas
Antibiotics for the treatment of ‘bacterial ailments’, may be given orally, intravenously, or by intramuscular injection, depending on the type and severity of bacterial disease, and other factors.
Treatment of bacterial infections also includes: good nutrition, hospitalization and intensive care in some cases, especially if complications occur, increased fluids, and rest.
People who have had close contact with a person with a serious bacterial disease, such as bacterial meningitis, may also need to be treated and monitored for the disease, even in the absence of symptoms.
Once the underlying infection has been determined, following the treatment plan outlined by your physician can help reduce any potential complications including:
Coma
Kidney failure
Septicemia, which is a life-threatening blood infection that can lead to a body-wide response called sepsis
Severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance
Shock
Toxic shock syndrome
When an antibiotic that worked previously in treating a bacterial disease stops being effective this is known as ‘resistant bacteria’. Bacteria can also become ‘stronger’ than antibiotics.
This makes it harder for the medicine to kill the bacteria, and treat the infection, and can result in serious complications, such as sepsis, coma and death.
Each individual human being shares their body with millions of bacteria, but most live in the large intestine, without causing any harm.
This type of bacteria is called resident/gut/friendly or intestinal flora, microbiome, or good bacteria, and as mentioned, it is extremely beneficial.
More than 1000 different types (known as species) live in your large intestine alone. It is estimated that the human gut (primarily large intestines) contains 100 trillion bacteria, or 10 times as many bacteria as there are cells in the human body.
Our first ‘inoculation’ of good gut bacteria occurs as our eyes, nose, lips, and mouth slide through our mother’s birth canal. This transfer of flora ‘plants the seed’ for the initial colonies that begin to populate the respiratory, urogenital, and gastrointestinal tracts.
These bacteria, which include both the good and bad bacteria that live in the gastrointestinal tract, quickly establish themselves in the child’s body and greatly affect health.
This seed-planting process helps establish the microflora that will eventually take root in the child’s digestive system. The healthier and more diverse the mother’s gut flora is, the healthier and more diverse her child’s will be.
More and more babies are being deprived of this initial inoculation due to rising cesarean sections being performed. In 1965, when cesarean section rates were first measured in this country, the surgery accounted for 4.5 per cent of all births. By 2002, that number rose to 27 per cent, and by 2009, it was 34 per cent.
According to the Journal of Perinatal Medicine, breast feeding encourages the growth of friendly bacteria known as Bifidobacterium, which protect the baby from gastrointestinal infections that can result in illnesses requiring hospitalization and sometimes death.
By the fourth day of life, Bifidobacterium represents 48 per cent of the bacteria in breast fed infants, as opposed to 15 per cent in bottle fed infants. Eventually, over 95 per cent of the bacteria become Bifidobacterium bacteria in an exclusively breast fed baby. This is because breast milk contains significant amounts of un-digestible sugars that provide food for the ‘friendly’ Bifidobacterium.
Introduction of small amounts of baby formula to a breast fed baby, will result in shifts from a breast-fed to a formula-fed pattern of the microflora. After weaning from breast milk, after the age of 2 years, the child’s flora becomes similar to an adults.
The good bacteria play important roles in: neutralizing some of the harmful by-products of food breakdown; aiding in the absorption of nutrients; producing certain vitamins such as Vitamin K needed for blood clotting; making life uncomfortable for harmful, disease-causing bacteria by competing for food; controlling levels of oxygen and acidity in the gut so that the living conditions favor beneficial species; and assist in supporting the body’s natural defenses/immune system.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been sounding the alarms about the consequences of overusing antibiotics. CDC director Tom Frieden M.D., has warned of ‘nightmare bacteria’, those that have evolved defenses against modern antibiotics.
This leads to strains that can cause fatal infections. According to the CDC’s 2013 report on antibiotic resistance in the United States, each year, more than two million people are sickened by antibiotic-resistant infections, with at least 23,000 dying as a result.
The estimates are based on conservative assumptions and are likely ‘minimum estimates’. They are the best approximations that can be derived from currently available data.
Many more die from other conditions that were complicated by an antibiotic-resistant infection. In addition, almost 250,000 people each year require hospital care for infections caused by Clostridium difficile (C. difficile or C. diff), a bacteria found in the gut.
A new CDC study shows that children given antibiotics for routine upper respiratory infections are more susceptible to aggressive antibiotic-resistant strains of the bacteria commonly known as C. diff.
The study found that 71 per cent of the children who suffered C. diff infections had been given courses of antibiotics for respiratory, ear, and nose illnesses 12 weeks before infection, to include the common cold.
Because the symptoms associated with viral infections frequently resemble the symptoms of bacterial infections, it is prudent for physicians to obtain cultures when possible and practical, to make a clearer distinction (i.e. throat and nasal swab).
Aggressive antibiotics, while helpful if you have a serious infection, can wipe out many good gut bacteria, while leaving those immune to antibiotics to flourish. That is the case with C. diff diarrheal infections.
Microbes, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, are living organisms that evolve over time. Their primary function is to reproduce, thrive, and spread quickly and efficiently.
As a result, microbes adapt to their environments and change in ways that ensure their survival. If something stops their ability to grow, such as an antimicrobial, genetic changes can occur that enable the microbe to survive. There are several ways this happens.
According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, there are several significant contributors to antimicrobial (antibiotic) resistance:
Selective Pressure
In the presence of an antimicrobial, microbes are either killed, or if they carry resistance genes, survive. These survivors will replicate, and their progeny will quickly become the dominant type throughout the microbial population (teaching good bacteria to turn into bad bacteria), surviving and multiplying.
Mutation
Most microbes reproduce by dividing every few hours, allowing them to evolve rapidly and adapt quickly to new environmental conditions. During replication, mutations arise and some of these mutations may help an individual microbe survive exposure to an antimicrobial.
Gene Transfer
Microbes also may get genes from each other, including genes that make the microbe drug resistant (also called horizontal or vertical gene transfer). The use of antimicrobials, even when used appropriately, creates a ‘selective pressure’ for resistant organisms.
In the United States, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are hotbeds for breeding antibiotic-resistant bacteria because of the continuous feeding of doses of antibiotics to the animals, who become living bioreactors for pathogens to survive, adapt, and eventually, thrive.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) ruled that antibiotic resistance is a major threat to public health, worldwide, and the primary cause for this man-made epidemic is the widespread misuse of antibiotics.
Measures to curb the rampant overuse of agricultural antibiotics could have a major impact in the U.S., as evidenced by actions taken in other countries. For example, Denmark stopped the widespread use of antibiotics in their pork industry well over a decade ago.
The European Union has also banned the routine use of antibiotics in animal feed over concerns of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
After Denmark implemented the antibiotic ban, it was later confirmed the country had drastically reduced antibiotic-resistant bacteria in their animals and food. Furthermore, the Danish initiative proved that removing antibiotics does not have to hurt the industry’s bottom line.
In the first 12 years of the ban, the Danish pork industry grew by 43 per cent, making it one of the top exporters of pork in the world. As reported by Consumer Reports 2013 publication:
What happens when a country takes its livestock off antibiotics? In 2000, Denmark’s pork industry ceased using antibiotics to promote the growth of its animals. Instead of eviscerating the nation’s pork industry, those moves contributed to a 50 per cent rise in pork production, according to a 2012 article in the Nature Journal.
Frank Aarestrup, D.V.M., Ph.D., head of the European Union (EU) Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance, and author of the article, attributes Denmark’s success to three factors: (1) laws banning the improper use of antibiotics, (2) a robust system of surveillance and enforcement, and (3) rules that prevent veterinarians from profiting from selling antibiotics to farmers.
“Farmers and their livestock can thrive without the heavy use of antibiotics, Aarestrup wrote. With a little effort, I believe that other countries can and must help their farmers to do the same.”
According to Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, associate director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in their 2013 report, as much as half of all antibiotics used in clinics and hospitals “are either unneeded or patients are getting the wrong drugs to treat their infections.”
The February 2011 publication of Food Safety News indicated that agricultural usage accounts for about 80 per cent of all antibiotic use in the U.S., so it is a major source of human antibiotic consumption.
Nearly 25 million pounds of antibiotics are administered to livestock in the U.S. every year for purposes ‘other than treating’ disease, such as making the animals grow bigger faster.
In other parts of the world, such as the European Union (EU), adding antibiotics to animal feed to accelerate growth has been banned for years. The antibiotic residues in meat and dairy, as well as the resistant bacteria, are passed on to us in the foods we eat.
Eighty different antibiotics are allowed in cows’ milk. According to the CDC’s 2013 report, 22 per cent of antibiotic-resistant illness in humans is in fact linked to food. In the words of Dr. Srinivasan:
“The more you use an antibiotic, the more you expose a bacteria to an antibiotic, the greater the likelihood that resistance to that antibiotic is going to develop. So the more antibiotics we put into people, we put into the environment, we put into livestock, the more opportunities we create for these bacteria to become resistant.”
Drug-resistant bacteria also accumulate in manure that is spread on fields and enters waterways, allowing the drug-resistant bacteria to spread far and wide and ultimately back up the food chain to us. You can see how easily antibiotic resistance spreads, via the food you eat, and community contact, according to the CDC.
As stated in the Clinical Infectious Diseases 2011 publication, you have a 50/50 chance of buying meat tainted with drug-resistant bacteria when you buy meat from your local grocery store.
But it may be even worse. Using data collected by the federal agency National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS), and the Environmental Working Group (EWG), antibiotic-resistant bacteria is in 81 per cent of ground turkey, 69 per cent of pork chops, 55 per cent of ground beef, and 39 per cent of raw chicken parts purchased in stores in 2011.
First approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the early 1950s, this practice results in shorter time to slaughter, at less expense to the producer, improves profits, and decreases consumer costs.
Drug-resistant organisms linked directly to agricultural use are a high-risk issue for young children. The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that almost 20 per cent of Campylobacter species infections, and more than one third of non-typhoidal Salmonella species infections occur in children younger than 10 years of age.
In addition, the rate of infection with Campylobacter species in the first year of life is twice that in the general population. And the rate of infection with non-typhoidal Salmonella species in infants is 10-fold higher than what is found in the general population.
EWG nutritionist and the report’s lead researcher, Dawn Undurraga, issued the following warning to the public:
“Consumers should be very concerned that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are now common in the meat aisles of most American supermarkets… These organisms can cause foodborne illnesses and other infections. Worse, they spread antibiotic-resistance, which threatens to bring on a post-antibiotic era where important medicines critical to treating people could become ineffective.”
Adding to these disturbing findings, the 2012 Nature Journal revealed that the American Pork Industry does not want to curb antibiotic use, since this would mean raising the cost of producing pork by an estimated $5 for every 100 pounds of pork brought to market.
The pharmaceutical industry is obviously against it as well. Even though they are not intent on producing new antibiotics to bring to the market, they want to protect those that are already here, especially those incredibly lucrative varieties that are used perpetually in animal feed.
Even Dr. Aarestrup, who helped Denmark cut the use of antibiotics in livestock by 60 per cent, wrote about the intense industry pressures he faced:
“Reducing Denmark’s reliance on antibiotics was far from easy. My lab was visited by pharmaceutical executives who did not like what we were finding, and I would be cornered at meetings by people who disagreed with our conclusions.
I have even been publicly accused of being paid to produce biased results.
Despite such challenges, it has been satisfying to see that Danish farmers and their livestock can thrive without the heavy use of antibiotics. …The practice continues unabated in the United States, despite a statement from the Food and Drug Administration [FDA]… suggesting that farmers should stop voluntarily.”
According to a recent report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the FDA has known that using antibiotics in factory farms is harmful to human health for many years, yet it took no action to curb its use. Currently, all they are doing is asking drug companies, who make massive amounts of money from these products, to ‘voluntarily’ restrict their use.
The report also found that 26 of the 30 drugs reviewed by the FDA, did not meet safety guidelines issued in 1973, and none of the 30 drugs would meet today’s safety guidelines, as indicated in a 2014, Rodale Magazine report.
The FDA is supposed to look at three factors when determining the safety of an antibiotic-based feed additive.
- The chances that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are being introduced into the food supply
- The likelihood that people would get exposed to those bacteria
- The consequences of what happens when people are exposed to those bacteria—would they still be able to get treated with human antibiotics?
The NRDC’s report concluded that virtually all feed additives containing penicillin and tetracycline antibiotics, both of which are used to treat human disease, pose a ‘high risk’ to human health, and should not be permitted.
There are additional factors that act to accelerate the increase of antimicrobial resistance:
Inadequate Diagnostics
Healthcare providers sometimes use incomplete or imperfect information to diagnose an infection, and as a result, prescribe an antimicrobial ‘just in case’, or prescribe a broad-spectrum antimicrobial when a specific antibiotic might be better. These situations can contribute to, or accelerate antimicrobial resistance.
Hospital Use
Critically ill patients are more susceptible to infections and, consequently, often require the aid of antimicrobials. However, the heavier use of antimicrobials in these patients can worsen the problem by selecting for antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms. The extensive use of antimicrobials, and close contact among sick patients, creates a fertile environment for the spread of antimicrobial-resistant germs.
Agricultural Environmental Contamination
Active antibiotics have been identified in water near wastewater treatment plants, animal waste lagoons, surface waters, and river sediments.
Resistance genes identical to those found in swine waste lagoons have been found in groundwater and soil microbes many miles downstream, affecting the reproductive processes of fish.
Antibiotics are disseminated mostly via direct and indirect emissions such as excrements, sewage irrigation, and sludge compost and enter the soil, and impact negatively the natural ecosystem of soil.
According to the American Society of Agronomy’s (ASA) 2013 report, municipal water treatment systems are unable to filter antibiotics, and are being studied for their impact on the development of resistance in the environment.
Along with C. diff, the CDC is aggressively tracking cases of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea. This ‘untreatable’ gonorrhea not only causes pain, but also has been linked to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, tubal infertility, and neonatal eye infections, among other conditions.
A specific strain, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, has developed resistance to the antibiotics typically used to treat these infections. Currently, cephalosporin antibiotics are the only class that meets the CDC’s standards to fight resistant gonorrhea.
The emerging threat has experts concerned. And it indicates that a better understanding of the bacteria’s epidemiology is needed. In 2012, 334,826 cases of gonorrhea were reported in the U.S., and the majority of new infections occurred in people ages 15 to 24, according to the CDC.
The average patient facing an antibiotic-resistant infection can expect a medical bill between $18,588 and $29,069 in 2009 dollars, totaling $20 billion in health care costs each year in the U.S., according to estimates from the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics at Tufts University.
According to the Institute of Medicine, and Union of Concerned Scientists, antimicrobials are now ubiquitous in the environment. They are used in human medicine by prescription, in over-the-counter preparations, by veterinarians to treat disease in animals,in cleaning products and other consumer products, as pesticides, in aquaculture (fish farming), and in animal agriculture.
Many of the advances in medical treatment such as: joint replacements, organ transplants, cancer therapy, and treatment of chronic diseases like diabetes, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis, and many types of medical emergencies are dependent on the ability to fight infections with antibiotics. If antibiotic resistance continues to rise, some modern medical advantages will be lost.
Sources of intrusion that help to eradicate good, beneficial bacteria in the gut are:
- Antibiotic use (which kills good and bad bacteria)
- Increased availability and use of over-the-counter products and medications, such as mouthwashes, aspirin, antacids, painkillers, and laxatives
- Dramatic changes in our sanitation procedures, including widespread use of certain types of cleansers
- Chlorinated drinking water
- Pesticide and herbicide use
- Sterilized foods (such as pasteurized milk)
- Artificial food coloring
- Antidepressants and sleeping pills
- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
- Altered fats in food products (i.e. hydrogenated fats)
- A high-fat, low-fiber diet
- Over-consumption of carbohydrates
- Anti-cholesterol drugs
- Over-consumption of alcohol
- Stress
- Smoking
So what can we do on our own? First, do everything in your power and budget for you and your children to stay healthy. By doing so, you will not get sick as often, and the need for antibiotics will not be needed as much.
If you or your child becomes ill, get out of the danger zone immediately by following your health practitioner’s advice. Once you and your child are healthy, begin eating healthier, and supplement your diet with antioxidants, probiotic supplements, and other natural health-boosting nutriments routinely.
Do not put you or your loved ones in a position to need repeated prescriptions of antibiotics. Take them only when prescribed by a qualified physician, and when needed (not for viral conditions). Overuse contributes to antibiotic resistance as well.
Prebiotics and probiotics represent essential aspects of a wholesome, nourishing diet.
Although they are not the same, prebiotics and probiotics complement one another, and work together to improve overall health and wellness. Put simply, a prebiotic promotes the proliferation of beneficial bacteria, while probiotics contain ‘live’ beneficial bacteria that help to recolonize your intestinal flora. A diet deficient in either prebiotics or probiotics may severely impact health and immune function in particular.
Prebiotics
Prebiotics are components of food that are essential, and feed ‘beneficial bacteria’ in your gut.
Humans throughout history ate foods richer in prebiotics than they do today. Tubers, greens and other plant foods offer a great source of prebiotics.
Good Sources of Prebiotics are: fresh dandelion greens, radicchio, frisee, endives, Jerusalem artichoke, onions and leeks, asparagus, chicory, jicama, garlic, wheat and sprouted wheat, bananas, cabbage, bean, legumes, root vegetables (sweet potatoes, beets, carrots etc.), apples, and prebiotic supplements.
Probiotics
Probiotics are foods or supplements that contain live, beneficial microorganisms. Probiotics, when ingested properly, assist in ‘recolonizing your digestive tract’s natural flora’, and encourage their proliferation.
While everyone’s digestive tract plays host to beneficial bacteria, antibiotics and poor eating habits, including diets deficient in prebiotics, can kill off and inhibit the proliferation of these friendly intestinal microflora.