The End of Antibiotics and the
Rise of Iodine as an Effective Alternative
by Mark Sircus Ac., OMD
(NaturalNews) Eventually antibiotics are going to be seen as one of the
worst things to ever come out of pharmaceutical science because in the
end, they have made us only weaker in the face of ever increasingly strong
super bugs that are resistant to all the antibiotics doctors have at their
disposal. When we look at how deep the rabbit hole goes with antibiotics,
we will get sick in our souls. Antibiotics have fulfilled their
antibiotic anti-life role leaving a long trail of death and suffering in
the wake of their use.
Diseases include measles, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, typhoid fever,
pneumonia, influenza, whooping cough, diphtheria and polio. All were in
decline for several decades before the introduction of antibiotics or
vaccines - Dr. Lawrence Wilson.
Antibiotics do not kill yeast. Many women find after taking antibiotics,
they get vaginal yeast infections (because their normal bacterial balance
has been lost). Antibiotics bring on fungal and yeast infections thus will
eventually be seen as a major cause of cancer since more and more
oncologists are seeing yeast and fungal infections as an integral part of
cancer and its cause. With upwards of 40 percent of all cancers thought to
be involved with and caused by infections, the subject of antibiotics and
the need for something safer, more effective and life serving is
imperative.
It may be some time before we really enter the predicted "post antibiotic
era" in which common infections are frequently untreatable - Dr. Marc
Lipsitch et al. (Harvard School of Public Health).
Antibiotics kill all bacteria in the body, including the ones we
need.
An antibiotic is a substance produced by certain bacteria or fungi that
kills other cells or interferes with their growth. In nature, these
substances help some microbes survive by limiting the multiplication of
other microbes that share the same environment. Antibiotics that attack
pathogenic (disease-causing) microbes without severely harming normal body
cells are useful as drugs but there does not seem to be any from the
pharmaceutical companies that do not do damage. Dr. Lisa Landymore-Lin
wrote all about this in her book Poisonous Prescriptions asking, 'Do
Antibiotics Cause Asthma and Diabetes?' We are now beginning to question
the role of antibiotics as a cause of cancer since they do lead to
pathogen overgrowth especially in the area of yeast and fungi. Chris
Woollams writes, "It is estimated that 70 per cent of the British
population have a yeast infection. The primary cause of this is our love
of antibiotics. Swollen glands? Take antibiotics. Tonsillitis? Take
antibiotics."
Two studies in the recent past have shown an association between the use
of antibiotics with higher incidence of breast cancer.
In one study the increased risk was small, and the importance of the link
has been played down by UK breast-cancer experts, but the findings add
weight to recent studies that have found links between antibiotics and
other diseases. In the past few years, heavy antibiotic use has been
linked to the inflammatory bowel disorder, Crohn's disease, and to
children developing allergies such as Hay fever and asthma. And as we
shall see below, antibiotics play a hidden role in autism and other
neurological diseases.
The Journal of the American Medical Association has reported a study on
10,000 women in which women who took over 500 days of antibiotics in a 17
year period (dubbed 25 plus doses) had twice the risk of breast cancer as
those that took none at all. Even women taking just one had a statistical
risk increase to 1.5 times.
The consequences of resistance in some bacteria can be measured as
increases in the term and magnitude of morbidity, higher rates of
mortality, and greater costs of hospitalization for patients infected with
resistant bacteria - Dr. Marc Lipsitch et al.
Broad-spectrum antibiotics are undiscriminating: in addition to "bad
bacteria," they also kill healthy bacteria which normally live in the
intestines and the vagina, and which are a necessary part of the
indigenous flora to keep the body healthy. When the "good" bacteria are
killed with antibiotics, then yeast, which is part of the normal flora of
the body, can begin to overgrow because the antibiotics have altered the
body's healthy terrain (internal ecological balance) allowing the yeast to
hyper-proliferate and cause many far-reaching, toxic symptoms.
But modern medicine so far continues to believe that antibiotics have
played an important role in staving off bacterial infections since
Alexander Fleming first discovered them in 1927. Many doctors are finally
beginning to see that the effectiveness of these so-called miracle drugs
has waned as some of the very bacteria they are meant to control have been
mutating into new forms that don't respond to treatment. Many medical
experts blame this phenomenon on both the misuse and overuse of
antibiotics in recent years in both human medicine and in agriculture.
According to several studies, obstetricians and gynecologists write
2,645,000 antibiotic prescriptions every week. Internists prescribe
1,416,000 per week. This works out to 211,172,000 prescriptions annually
in the United States, just for these two specialties. Pediatricians
prescribe over $500 million worth of antibiotics annually just for one
condition, ear infections. Yet topical povidone iodine (PVP-I) is as
effective as topical ciprofloxacin, with a superior advantage of having no
in vitro drug resistance and the added benefit of reduced cost of
treatment.
According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association, taking properly prescribed medical drugs was listed as the
third leading cause of death in the U.S. Antibiotics were listed in this
category because antibiotics can be deadly.
A 17-year-old St Margaret's College student in New Zealand has exposed
multiple antibiotic-resistant bugs in fresh chicken sold in supermarkets?
Jane Millar's discovery of a range of resistant bacteria in chickens that
could compromise antibiotic treatment in humans is an important finding
that the bacteria have developed resistance to antibiotics not used in the
poultry industry but important for treating serious infections in humans.
We can create resistance to medically important antibiotics by using
antibiotics that are presumably safe in agriculture - Jane Millar.
Jane bought six fresh chickens - free-range, barn-raised and organic
from a supermarket. She took samples from each bird and grew bug colonies,
which she used to test different antibiotics. Apramycin is an antibiotic
used sparingly by the New Zealand poultry industry to treat infections.
The bacteria of two chickens tested resistant to apramycin. They also
proved resistant to another two antibiotics from the same family -
gentamicin and tobramycin - used for serious human infections. Gentamicin
is not used by the poultry industry; tobramycin is restricted to human use
only.
A recent risk assessment study commissioned by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has estimated that about 8,000-10,000 persons in the
U.S. each year acquire fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter infections
from chicken and attempt to treat those infections with a fluoroquinolone.
Every day, new strains of bacteria, fungi, and other pathogenic
microorganisms are becoming resistant to the antibiotics that once
dispatched them with extreme prejudice.
"We know that antimicrobial resistance will follow antimicrobial use as
sure as night follows day," said Dr. John A. Jernigan, deputy chief of
prevention and response from the Center of Disease Control. "It's just a
biological phenomenon." It turns out that the indiscriminate killing of
harmless microbes damages the body in complex ways we are only beginning
to understand. Powerful antibiotics introduced into the complex
environment in our intestines cause mayhem, much like a series of bombs
tossed into a market square. Antibiotic resistance is a widespread
problem, and one that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
calls "one of the world's most pressing public health problems."
One of the deadliest germs is a staph bacteria called M.R.S.A., short for
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which lives harmlessly on the
skin but causes havoc when it enters the body. Patients who do survive
M.R.S.A. often spend months in the hospital and endure several operations
to cut out infected tissue. Hospitalizations associated with a
drug-resistant form of a Staphylococcus bacterium doubled over six years
in the U.S. to nearly 280,000 cases in 2005. The death toll rose from
4,700 in 1999 to about 6,600 in 2005. It estimated that 94,000 Americans
suffered invasive MRSA infections in 2005 and that about 19,000 died.
One out of every 20 patients contracts an infection during a hospital stay
in the US. Hospital infections kill an estimated 103,000 people in the
United States a year, as many as AIDS, breast cancer and auto accidents
combined. The vast majority of lethal cases occur in hospitals and nursing
homes, where open wounds and punctures provide the opportunistic staph a
ready path to the bloodstream and organs. The dangers of infection are
worsening as many hospital infections can no longer be cured with common
antibiotics.
More than half the time, doctors and other caregivers break the most
fundamental rule of hygiene by failing to clean their hands before
treating a patient.
"Recently there has been an alarming epidemic caused by
community-associated (CA)-MRSA strains, which can cause severe infections
that can result in necrotizing fasciitis or even death in otherwise
healthy adults outside of healthcare settings," is the word coming from
the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) research
team, headed by Dr. Michael Otto.
Necrotizing fasciitis is the so-called flesh-eating disease that can
destroy healthy tissue and even kill patients. The team found that some
strains on MRSA secrete a compound called phenol-soluble modulin or PSM.
It attracts immune system cells called neutrophils, the researchers found,
and then blows them up in a process called lysis. Neutrophils are key
immune cells involved in clearing bacterial infections, so destroying them
would allow the bacteria to thrive almost unmolested.
"In the United States, CA-MRSA is now the cause of the majority of
infections that result in trips to the emergency room. It is unclear what
makes CA-MRSA strains more successful in causing human disease compared
with their hospital-associated counterparts," they add.
When the peaceful activities of a normal microbial population are
disrupted, malevolent bacteria may take full advantage of the opportunity
to strike. The intestinal infection C. difficile colitis, now rampaging
through hospitals around the world, is one of the worst such complication
of antibiotic use.
Clostridium difficile was first recognized as a hospital microbe in 1978.
By 1996, it had increased to 31 cases per 100,000 people discharged from
U.S. hospitals. In 2003, the most recent year for complete statistics,
prevalence had risen to 61 per 100,000. C. diff is part of the natural
flora, or bacteria, in the colon. "We're seeing all of the warning signs
that this is the next MRSA," said former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy
McCaughey, founder of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, a
Manhattan-based nonprofit. "It spreads like wildfire in hospitals."
Clostridium difficile is a spore-forming toxin-producing bacterium that is
overtaking peoples' large intestines from which it mounts an attack on the
bloodstream. Like MRSA, Clostridium difficile has become
multi-drug-resistant. Although once a bacterium that mostly affected
elderly, hospitalized patients, a bolder strain is crippling the robust.
In emergency efforts to save some patients' lives surgeons remove the
entire large intestine to prevent overwhelming infection.
One case had been treated by a dermatologist for an ingrown hair on his
back and prescribed an antibiotic. He took only a few pills, but quickly
became ill. Based on what his doctors told him, the short course of
antibiotics proved sufficient to destroy virtually all the natural
bacteria in his intestine - except C. diff, which was freed to ravage his
colon.
Frequently, stethoscopes, blood-pressure monitors and other equipment are
contaminated with live bacteria. Yet doctors and nurses almost never clean
the stethoscope before listening to a patient's chest.
"It strikes precisely those hospitals which are more 'high-tech', and
handle more serious illnesses. Applying more disinfectant is not the
answer; some strains of germs have actually been found thriving in bottles
of hospital disinfectant! The more antibacterial chemical 'weapons' are
being used, the more bacteria are becoming resistant to them," writes Dr.
Carl Wieland.
Health-care officials are increasingly concerned about emerging new forms
of drug-resistant Tuberculosis (TB). According to the WHO, outbreaks of
drug-resistant tuberculosis are showing up all over the world and threaten
to touch off a worldwide epidemic of virtually incurable tuberculosis. An
October 1997 survey by the WHO, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung
Disease estimates that 50 million people are infected with a strain of TB
that is drug-resistant. Many of those are said to carry
multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis, incurable by two or more of the
standard drugs.
New DNA technology has found hundreds of previously unrecognized species
in the traditional stomping grounds of the mouth and intestine, and traces
of bacteria even in tissues previously thought to be sterile.
Lessons from Autism
Medical scientists at Arizona State University tell us that antibiotic use
is known to almost completely inhibit excretion of mercury in rats due to
alteration of gut flora. Thus, higher use of oral antibiotics in the
children with autism may have reduced their ability to excrete mercury.
Higher usage of oral antibiotics in infancy may also partially explain the
high incidence of chronic gastrointestinal problems in individuals with
autism.
Many
physicians
are unaware of lasting adverse effects caused by routinely prescribed
medications such as antibiotics. Antibiotic therapy for minor colds and
runny noses is a common practice. People routinely receive multiple
courses of broad-spectrum antibiotics throughout life or are injected
with long-acting corticosteroid medicine for joint or muscle pain. Once
established, sub-clinical colonization with yeast in the body may
persist unrecognized for many years. Antibiotics, such as tetracycline,
can greatly increase yeast in the colon after only a few days.
The extensive use of antibiotics will make the condition of Candida much
worse because it reduces heavy metal excretion, which is a food source
for the yeast like organism and also killing the beneficial bacteria at
the same time.
Normally, candida albicans lives peacefully in our intestines and
elsewhere, in harmony with other flora that keep the yeast in check.
Take an antibiotic and all this changes. By suppressing the normal
flora, candida takes over and problems begin. In its mild form, the
result is diarrhea or a yeast infection. Dr. Elmer Cranton says that,
"Yeast overgrowth is partly iatrogenic (caused by the medical
profession) and can be caused by antibiotics and cortisone medications.
A diet high in sugar also promotes overgrowth of yeast. A highly refined
diet common in industrialized nations not only promotes growth of yeast,
but is also deficient in many of the essential vitamins and minerals
needed by the immune system. Chemical colorings, flavorings,
preservatives, stabilizers, emulsifiers, etc., add more stress on the
immune system."
Children with autism had significantly (2.1-fold) higher levels of
mercury in their baby teeth but similar levels of lead and similar
levels of zinc. Children with autism also had significantly higher usage
of oral antibiotics during their first 12 to 36 months of life.
Reporting in the July 11, 2007 issue of the Journal of the American
Medical Association, researchers say the use of antibiotics as
prevention boosts risks for drug resistance while doing nothing to
shield kids from future urinary tract infections (UTIs). Giving
antibiotics to prevent recurrent urinary tract infections in small
children not only will not help but will hurt these children. Prior use
of antibiotics to prevent infection did boost the likelihood of
developing a drug-resistant infection by nearly 7.5 times. Indeed, 61
percent of recurrent urinary tract infections were caused by a pathogen
with antibiotic resistance, the researchers pointed out.
In a 2005 study, the antibiotic Augmentin TM has been implicated in the
formation of autism. The study strongly suggests the possibility of
ammonia poisoning as a result of young children taking Augmentin.
Augmentin has been given to children since the late 1980's for bacterial
infections.
Many physicians seem to be unaware that birth control pills comprised of
the hormones estrogen and progesterone can also make the body more
susceptible to fungal infections. If antibiotics are prescribed, it acts
as a double whammy to ensuring a fungal infection will take hold by
diminishing the protective bacteria in the intestines. Many pregnant
women seek medical treatment for minor problems and are indiscriminately
given antibiotics and this begins a long decline into problems that are
complicated at each turn by OBGYN doctors at birth and by pediatricians
who just love to poison children with the toxic chemicals found in
vaccines. In many places in the world they still give mercury shots at
birth.
Microforms poison us with their waste products.
The waste products are acetylaldehyde, uric acid, alloxin, alcohols,
lactic acid, etc.
Antibiotics may be to blame for hundreds of children developing autism
after having the controversial MMR jab. More than two-thirds of
youngsters with the condition received four or more antibiotics in their
first year, a British survey has revealed. It is thought the drugs
weakened their immune systems, leaving them unable to withstand the
impact of the triple jab. Allopathic medicine has been stubborn and slow
to look at its abusive use of antibiotics. It's the same with vaccines,
the holy grail of medicine. But with last-line-of-defence antibiotics
failing on increasingly drug-resistant superbugs and young children's
systems being destroyed by them you would think they would wake up and
find some alternatives.
Antibiotics are mostly derived from fungi and are therefore classified
as mycotoxins. Mycotoxins Are Poisons.
Iodine - a Pillar Against Infections
Iodine offers a serious and potent replacement for much of the
antibiotics that are literally destroying people's lives and can be used
safely with children. Parents, who chose not to dose their kids with
dangerous vaccines will be glad to know that iodine can be very
effective against a host of viral infections that medical officials
insist threaten children.
Though it kills 90 percent of bacteria on the skin within 90 seconds,
its use as an antibiotic has been ignored. Iodine exhibits activity
against bacteria, molds, yeasts, protozoa, and many viruses; indeed, of
all antiseptic preparations suitable for direct use on humans and
animals and upon tissues, only iodine is capable of killing all classes
of pathogens: gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, mycobacteria,
fungi, yeasts, viruses and protozoa. Most bacteria are killed within 15
to 30 seconds of contact.
Iodine is by far the best antibiotic, antiviral and antiseptic of all
time - Dr. David Derry
Dr. Derry says that iodine is effective "for standard pathogens such as
Staphylococcus, but also iodine has the broadest range of action, fewest
side effects and no development of bacterial resistance." There is a
world of difference between using an antibiotic anti-life substance
and an antibiotic, antiviral and antifungal substance like iodine, which
is life serving because it is a basic and most necessary nutritional
substance.
Iodine kills single celled organisms by combining with the amino acids
tyrosine or histidine when they are exposed to the extra-cellular
environment. All single cells showing tyrosine on their outer cell
membranes are killed instantly by a simple chemical reaction with iodine
that denatures proteins. Nature and evolution have given us an important
mechanism to control pathogenic life forms and we should use it and
trust it to protect us in ways that antibiotics can't.
"My husband Ron had a small infection at the base of the nail. This very
quickly turned nasty and our doctor agreed it looked like gout. Three
weeks later Ron heard back from his Doctor who was in a mad panic saying
Ron had septicemia. On seeing the surgeon that same day the surgeon
wanted to go in and cut the finger open end for end and look at the
finger and that she would probably have to take it off anyway. Finally
the Nascent Iodine we ordered arrived (my husband was refusing to take
antibiotics) He started on quite a hefty dose of 15 drops while
continuing to apply magnesium chloride transdermally."
"Two days after starting the iodine there was feeling starting to
regenerate and pain again in the finger and Ron thought it looked less
discolored. Then the following day the swelling had started to go down
and the normal healthy pinkness was returning at the base of the finger.
Over a period of days it has progressively improved with no other
treatment than the iodine and magnesium chloride. We also then made a
poultice with a mixture of comfrey, honey and garlic for a few days,
then the Nascent Iodine dripped into a goldenseal ointment."
Magnesium chloride is the only form of magnesium known to have
anti-infectious properties. When it comes to fighting infections, iodine
and magnesium chloride are a dynamic duo that should not be overlooked
by allopathic or naturopathic physicians or by anyone else. I talked a
few months ago to a missionary in Africa who was using iodine (in the
atomic or detoxified form) to successfully treat malaria. My own
children have recently had bad coughs and it is iodine, not dangerous
over-the-counter cough medicines I reach for.
The feeling of security for a parent comes from administering substances
like iodine (Nascent and other forms) and magnesium chloride (natural
forms) to their children. Yes in dire emergency we would still use an
antibiotic when fever is high and all else has failed but until that
kind of critical point, iodine, backed up by magnesium chloride, sodium
bicarbonate and even clay, is our main line of defense against a full
range of pathogens.
Determining what is an appropriate use of an antibiotic is a judgment
call in which cultural, social, psychological, and economic factors play
at least as great a role as clinical and epidemiological considerations
- Dr. Marc Lipsitch et al.
The way to combat antibiotic resistance is not bigger, better, stronger
antibiotics but, rather, no antibiotics at all. Instead, other molecular
weapons are available with the ability to disable bad germs without
bothering good ones. Iodine is the ideal broad spectrum antibiotic that
is not an antibiotic - it is not against life. Not against human life
that is but you can hear the little pathogens screaming as high enough
levels of iodine fan out through the system. Meaning all the viruses,
bacteria, yeasts and molds that are threatening us are threatened with
instant death when iodine is used orally to fight infection. It's hard
to make a mistake with iodine but with pharmaceutical antibiotics we are
playing at the crap table hoping our choice of which one to use works
against the pathogen that is actually threatening a person.
Infection depresses levels of vitamins B6 and C.
"The right dose of Vitamin C will stop every infection in its tracks
without needing to use antibiotics" - Dr. Gary Gordon.
Another reason to avoid antibiotics, except in the most dire
emergencies, is that they interfere with the absorption of many vitamins
and minerals, leading to their deficiencies. Deficiencies in these
nutrients can set the stage for increased susceptibility to more
infections.
Following is a list of the Drug/Substance and the Nutrients which are
depleted by that substance:
* Antibiotics - (Nutrients Depleted) Vitamin A, B-12, C, E, K, Biotin,
Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium
* Chelators - Copper, Iron, Magnesium, Zinc
* Anticonvulsants - Vitamin B-2, B-12, C, F, K, Folic Acid, Calcium,
Magnesium
* Antidiabetics (Oral) - Vitamin B-2, B-12, C, D, Folic Acid
* Antihistamines - Vitamin C
* Aspirin - Calcium, Folic Acid, Iron, Potassium, C, B Complex
"When I was finally discharged from hospital, I still had a strain of
supergerm colonizing my body. Nothing had been able to get rid of it,
after months in hospital. However, I was told that all I had to do on
going home was to 'get outdoors a lot, occasionally even roll in the
dirt, and wait.' In less than two weeks of this advice, the supergerms
were gone. Why? The reason is that supergerms are actually defective in
other ways, as explained. Therefore, when they are forced to compete
with the ordinary bacteria which normally thrive on our skin, they do
not have a chance. They thrive in hospital because all the antibiotics
and antiseptics being used there keep wiping out the ordinary bacteria
which would normally out compete, wipe out and otherwise keep in check
these 'superwimps,'" wrote Dr. Carl Wieland
Interestingly enough Dr. Weston Price, who studied the diets and health
of many primitive societies during the early 20th century, found that
many primitive people would eat food that has been dipped in water
dissolved with clay in order to prevent upset stomachs from food
poisoning. Two types of clay are today commonly sold for consumption as
health supplements bentonite and montmorillonite. These have been
variously called "living clay", "healing clay" or just "edible clays".
Clay is highly absorptive. It readily absorbs toxins, heavy metals,
bacteria, virus and fungi. But because clay itself is not absorbed by
the body, whatever it absorbs is passed out in the stools.
Mutating Viruses
Did you know that a nutritional deficiency can cause a virus to mutate
to a more virulent form? That is the news from the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) who are reporting that a human virus,
normally harmless in laboratory mice, mutated into a heart-damaging
pathogen when the animals were raised on a diet devoid of the essential
element selenium. And, once mutated, the virus continued to damage
hearts - even in mice that got ample selenium in their feed.
The importance of this is not limited to nutritionally-deprived
populations, say researchers with the University of North Carolina and
Agricultural Research Service of the government, who collaborated on the
studies. In theory, one selenium-deficient person or animal could
produce a new family of virus mutants that could cross species and
spread worldwide, causing disease even in well nourished people.
The USDA is now officially on record that nutritional deficiencies cause
viral mutations and they expect to find the same results with
vitamin-E-deficient mice because both selenium and vitamin E are
nutrients that serve as antioxidants in the body. This means that the
government is recognizing that free radicals and oxidative stress
affects the world of pathogens creating super bugs out of regular
critters. They are even going as far as saying that this may help
explain the many new strains of influenza virus arising in China, which
has widespread selenium-deficient areas.
The implications are enormous for a form of medicine that understands
absolutely nothing about nutrition and the science of low level
toxicity. Part of our infection fighting arsenal needs to include
selenium and ALA (Alpha Lipoic Acid) and this is critical not only for
maintaining glutathione levels but also for the neutralization of
mercury. Mercury provides the ideal environment for viruses, bacteria,
fungi and yeast infections. Though most are in total denial of it, we
are as a race being overrun by mercury pollution that is everywhere in
the air, water, food, vaccines, dental amalgam and even beauty products.
When a person is bitten by a snake, spider or scorpion it helps the
doctors to know which poison they are treating. One cannot say anything
about health or disease anymore without dealing with mercury and its
rising tide. You cannot treat infectious diseases in effective ways
without dealing with the soil of the infection, with the mercury and
other chemical toxicities that are driving the pathogens. A doctor needs
to know his poisons but most of them find their minds obscured by the
denial of the fact that most of the pharmaceuticals they use are
mitochondrial poisons. Modern medicine is lost when it comes to dealing
with mercury and in fact endorses its use in vaccines and dental
medicine.
Garlic is one food that has powerful anti-bacterial and anti-fungal
properties and some scientific studies have found it to be at least as
effective as the popular anti-fungal drug, Nystatin, in destroying
candida albicans.
We have to change our perceptions about infections and infectious
processes. We need to shift away from the competing paradigms of
pathogen vs. terrain. We need to deal simultaneously with pathogen,
terrain and poison. Certainly we need to deal with nutrition and the use
of concentrated nutritional substances that help us deal safely and
effectively with infections.
Much more could be said about natural remedies and other substances like
colloidal silver, which is known to have antibacterial properties. I
would choose iodine first because the body needs it anyway where it does
not need colloidal silver. When we use concentrated nutritional
substances as antibiotics we are doing a lot more than confronting
hostile pathogens. We are supporting total body physiology as well as
elimination of heavy metals and other toxic poisons.
Nearly 500,000 people are dying yearly in America due to infectious
disease. It now ranks number 3 behind heart disease and cancer in
claiming American lives.
About the author
Mark A. Sircus Ac., OMD, is director of the International Medical
Veritas Association (IMVA). Dr. Sircus was trained in acupuncture and
oriental medicine at the Institute of Traditional Medicine in Sante Fe,
N.M., and in the School of Traditional Medicine of New England in
Boston. He served at the Central Public Hospital of Pochutla, in México,
and was awarded the title of doctor of oriental medicine for his work.
He was one of the first nationally certified acupuncturists in the
United States. Dr. Sircus's IMVA is dedicated to unifying the various
disciplines in medicine with the goal of creating a new dawn in
healthcare.
He is particularly concerned about the effect vaccinations have on
vulnerable infants and is identifying the common thread of many toxic
agents that are dramatically threatening present and future generations
of children. His book The Terror of Pediatric Medicine is a free e-book
one can read. Dr. Sircus is a most prolific and courageous writer and
one can read through hundreds of pages on his various web sites.
He has most recently released his Survival Medicine for the 21st Century
compendium (2,200 page ebook) and is racing to finish his Winning the
War Against Cancer book. Dr. Sircus is a pioneer in the area of natural
detoxification and chelation of toxic chemicals and heavy metals. He is
also a champion of the medicinal value of minerals and is fathering in a
new medical approach that uses sea water and different concentrates
taken from it for health and healing. Transdermal Magnesium Therapy, his
first published work, offers a stunning breakthrough in medicine, an
entirely new way to supplement magnesium that naturally increases DHEA
levels, brings cellular magnesium levels up quickly, relieves pain,
brings down blood pressure and pushes cell physiology in a positive
direction. Magnesium chloride delivered transdermally brings a quick
release from a broad range of conditions.
______________________________________________
Note from Roy Gibbons:
Jonathan Wright's Takoma clinic is the best source for iodine I know of.
Each drop of this liquid product supplies 19 mg of iodine - far more
than any others. http://www.tahomadispensary.com
Iodine for Health
by Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD
There is growing evidence that Americans would have better health and a
lower incidence of cancer and fibrocystic disease of the breast if they
consumed more iodine. A decrease in iodine intake coupled with an
increased consumption of competing halogens, fluoride and bromide, has
created an epidemic of iodine deficiency in America.
People in the U.S. consume an average 240 micrograms (µg) of iodine a
day. In contrast, people in Japan consume more than 12 milligrams (mg)
of iodine a day (12,000 µg), a 50-fold greater amount. They eat seaweed,
which include brown algae (kelp), red algae (nori sheets, with sushi),
and green algae (chlorella). Compared to terrestrial plants, which
contain only trace amounts of iodine (0.001 mg/gm), these marine plants
have high concentrations of this nutrient (0.58.0 mg/gm). When studied
in 1964, Japanese seaweed consumption was found to be 4.5 grams (gm) a
day and that eaten had a measured iodine concentration of 3.1 mg/gm of
seaweed (= 13.8 mg of iodine). According to public health officials,
mainland Japanese now consume 14.5 gm of seaweed a day (= 45 mg of
iodine, if its iodine content, not measured, remains unchanged).
Researchers have determined that residents on the coast of Hokkaido eat
a quantity of seaweed sufficient to provide a daily iodine intake of 200
mg a day. Saltwater fish and shellfish contain iodine, but one would
have to eat 1525 pounds of fish to get 12 mg of iodine.
Health comparisons between the two countries are disturbing. The
incidence of breast cancer in the U.S. is the highest in the world, and
in Japan, until recently, the lowest. Japanese women who emigrate from
Japan or adopt a Western style diet have a higher rate of breast cancer
compared with those that consume seaweed. Life expectancy in the U.S. is
77.85 years, 48th in 226 countries surveyed. It is 81.25 years in Japan,
the highest of all industrialized countries and only slightly behind the
five leaders Andorra, Macau, San Marino, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The
infant mortality rate in Japan is the lowest in the world, 3.5 deaths
under age one per 1,000 live births, half the infant mortality rate in
the United States.
Today 1 in 7 American women (almost 15 percent) will develop breast
cancer during their lifetime. Thirty years ago, when iodine consumption
was twice as high as it is now (480 µg a day) 1 in 20 women developed
breast cancer. Iodine was used as a dough conditioner in making bread,
and each slice of bread contained 0.14 mg of iodine. In 1980, bread
makers started using bromide as a conditioner instead, which competes
with iodine for absorption into the thyroid gland and other tissues in
the body. Iodine was also more widely used in the dairy industry 30
years ago than it is now.
Now iodized table salt is the chief source of iodine in a Western diet.
But 45 percent of American households buy salt without iodine, which
grocery stores also sell. And over the last three decades people who do
use iodized table salt have decreased their consumption of it by 65
percent. Furthermore, the much higher concentrations of chloride in salt
(NaCl) inhibits absorption of its sister halogen iodine (the intestines
absorb only 10 percent of the iodine present in iodized table salt). As
a result, 15 percent of the U.S. adult female population suffers from
moderate to severe iodine deficiency, which health authorities define as
a urinary iodine concentration less than 50 µg /L. Women with goiters (a
visible, noncancerous enlargement of the thyroid gland) owing to iodine
deficiency have been found to have a three times greater incidence of
breast cancer. A high intake of iodine is associated with a low
incidence breast cancer, and a low intake with a high incidence of
breast cancer.
Animal studies show that iodine prevents breast cancer, arguing for a
causal association in these epidemiological findings. The carcinogens
nitrosmethylurea and DMBA cause breast cancer in more than 70 percent of
female rats. Those given iodine, especially in its molecular form as I2,
have a statistically significant decrease in incidence of cancer. Other
evidence adding biologic plausibility to the hypothesis that iodine
prevents breast cancer includes the finding that the ductal cells in the
breast, the ones most likely to become cancerous, are equipped with an
iodine pump (the sodium iodine symporter, the same one that the thyroid
gland has) to soak up this element.
Similar findings apply to fibrocystic disease of the breast. The
incidence of fibrocystic breast disease in American women was 3 percent
in the 1920s. Today, 90 percent of women have this disorder, manifested
by epithelial hyperplasia, apocrine gland metaplasia, fluid-filled
cysts, and fibrosis. Six million American women with fibrocystic disease
have moderate to severe breast pain and tenderness that lasts more than
6 days during the menstrual cycle.
In animal studies, female rats fed an iodine-free diet develop
fibrocystic changes in their breasts, and iodine in its elemental form
(I2) cures it.
Russian researchers first showed, in 1966, that iodine effectively
relieves signs and symptoms of fibrocystic breast disease. Vishniakova
and Muraveva treated 167 women suffering from fibrocystic disease with
50 mg KI during the intermenstrual period and obtained a beneficial
healing effect in 71 percent (it is reference 49 here).
Then Ghent and coworkers, in a study published in the Canadian Journal
of Surgery in 1993, likewise found that iodine relieves signs and
symptoms of fibrocystic breast disease in 70 percent of their patients.
This report is a composite of three clinical studies, two case series
done in Canada in 696 women treated with various types of iodine, and
one in Seattle. The Seattle study, done at the Virginia Mason Clinic, is
a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 56 women
designed to compare 35 mg of elemental iodine (I2) to a placebo (an
aqueous mixture of brown vegetable dye with quinine). Investigators
followed the women for six months and tracked subjective and objective
changes in their fibrocystic disease.
A statistical analysis of the Seattle study (enlarged to include 92
women) was done, which shows that iodine has a highly statistically
significant beneficial effect on fibrocystic disease (P < 0.001).
Iodine reduced breast tenderness, nodularity, fibrosis, turgidity, and
number of macroscysts, the five parameters in a total breast examination
score that a physician blinded to what treatment the woman was taking,
iodine or placebo, measured. This 36-page report, now available online,
was submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1995 seeking
its approval to carry out a larger randomized controlled clinical trial
on iodine for treating fibrocystic breast disease. It declined to
approve the study, telling its lead investigator, Dr. Donald Low,
"iodine is a natural substance, not a drug." But the FDA has now decided
to approve a similar trial sponsored by Symbollon Pharmaceuticals. This
company is enrolling 175 women in a phase III trial, registered on
clinicaltrials.gov. (Any women with fibrocystic disease reading this who
might be interested in participating in this study should call its
sponsor, Jack Kessler, Ph.D., at 508-620-7676, Ext. 201.)
Most physicians and surgeons view iodine from a narrow perspective. It
is an antiseptic that disinfects drinking water and prevents surgical
wound infections, and the thyroid gland needs it to make thyroid
hormones and thats it. (When painted on the skin prior to surgery,
tincture of iodine kills 90 percent of bacteria present within 90
seconds.) The thyroid gland needs iodine to synthesize thyroxine (T4)
and triiodothyronine (T3), hormones that regulate metabolism and steer
growth and development. T4 contains four iodine atoms combined with 27
other atoms of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, but owing to its
large size accounts for 65 percent of the molecules weight. (T3 has
three iodine atoms.) The thyroid needs only a trace amount of iodine, 70
µg a day, to produce the requisite amount of T4 and T3. For that reason
thyroidologists say that iodine is best taken just in microgram amounts.
They consider consuming more than 1 to 2 mg of iodine a day to be
excessive and potentially harmful.
Expert opinion on iodine is now the purview of thyroidologists.
Mainstream physicians and surgeons accept their thyroid-only view of
iodine and either ignore or discount studies that show iodine in larger
amounts provides extrathyroidal benefits, particularly for womens
breasts. Thus a leading textbook on breast disease, Bland and Copelands
The Breast: Comprehensive Management of Benign and Malignant
Disorders(2003), fails to mention iodine anywhere in its 1,766 pages.
Iodine has an important and little understood history. This relatively
scarce element has played a pivotal role in the formation of our
planets atmosphere and in the evolution of life. For more than two
billion years there was no oxygen in the atmosphere until a new kind of
bacteria, cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), began producing oxygen as a
byproduct of photosynthesis. Cyanobacteria also developed an affinity
for iodine. The most likely reason is that these organisms used iodine
as an antioxidant to protect themselves against the free radicals that
oxygen breeds (superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl
radical). Studying kelp, researchers have shown how iodine does this and
have found that kelp will absorb increased amounts of iodine when placed
under oxidative stress. Other researchers have shown that iodine
increases the antioxidant status of human serum similar to that of
vitamin C.
Iodine also induces apoptosis, programmed cell death. This process is
essential to growth and development (fingers form in the fetus by
apoptosis of the tissue between them) and for destroying cells that
represent a threat to the integrity of the organism, like cancer cells
and cells infected with viruses. Human lung cancer cells with genes
spliced into them that enhance iodine uptake and utilization undergo
apoptosis and shrink when given iodine, both when grown in vitro outside
the body and implanted in mice. Its anti-cancer function may well prove
to be iodines most important extrathyroidal benefit.
Iodine has other extrathyroidal functions that require more study. It
removes toxic chemicals fluoride, bromide, lead, aluminum, mercury
and biological toxins, suppresses auto-immunity, strengthens the T-cell
adaptive immune system, and protects against abnormal growth of bacteria
in the stomach.
In addition to the thyroid and mammary glands, other tissues possess an
iodine pump (the sodium/iodine symporter). Stomach mucosa, the salivary
glands, and lactating mammary glands can concentrate iodine almost to
the same degree as the thyroid gland (40-fold greater than its
concentration in blood). Other tissues that have this pump include the
ovaries; thymus gland, seat of the adaptive immune system; skin; choroid
plexus in the brain, which makes cerebrospinal fluid; and joints,
arteries and bone.
Todays medical establishment is wary of iodine (as they are of most
naturally occurring, nonpatentable, nonpharmaceutical agents).
Thyroidologists cite the Wolff-Chaikoff effect and warn that TSH
(thyroid stimulating hormone) blood levels can rise with an iodine
intake of a milligram or more. The Wolff-Chaikoff effect, a temporary
inhibition of thyroid hormone synthesis that supposedly occurs with
increased iodine intake, is of no clinical significance. And an elevated
TSH, when it occurs, is "subclinical." This means that no signs or
symptoms of hypothyroidism accompany its rise. Some people taking
milligram doses of iodine, usually more than 50 mg a day, develop mild
swelling of the thyroid gland without symptoms. The vast majority of
people, 98 to 99 percent, can take iodine in doses ranging from 10 to
200 mg a day without any clinically adverse affects on thyroid function.
The prevalence of thyroid diseases in the 127 million people in Japan
who consume high amounts of iodine is not much different than that in
the U.S.
Everyone agrees that a lack of iodine in the diet causes a spectrum of
disorders that includes, in increasing order of severity, goiter and
hypothyroidism, mental retardation, and cretinism (severe mental
retardation accompanied by physical deformities). Health authorities in
the U.S. and Europe have agreed upon a Reference Daily Intake (RDI),
formerly called the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), for iodine
designed to prevent these disorders, which the World Health Organization
(WHO) estimates afflicts 30 percent of the worlds population. The RDI
for iodine, first proposed in 1980, is 100150 µg/day. Organizations
advocating this amount include the American Medical Association,
National Institutes of Healths National Research Council, Institute of
Medicine, United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, WHO Expert
Committee, and the European Union International Programme on Chemical
Safety. These health authorities consider an RDI of 100150 µg/day of
iodine sufficient to meet the requirements of nearly all (9798%)
healthy individuals.
This consensus on iodine intake flies in the face of evidence justifying
a higher amount. This evidence includes animal studies, in vitro studies
on human cancer cell lines, clinical trials of iodine for fibrocystic
breast disease, and epidemiological data. An intake of 150 µg/day of
iodine will prevent goiters and the other recognized iodine deficiency
disorders, but not breast disease. Prevention of breast disease requires
higher doses of iodine. Indeed, a reasonable hypothesis is that, like
goiters and cretinism, fibrocystic disease of the breast and breast
cancer are iodine deficiency disorders (also uterine fibroids).
What Albert Guérard writes about new truths applies especially to
iodine: "When you seek a new path to truth, you must expect to find it
blocked by expert opinion." The reigning truth on iodine is that the
thyroid gland is the only organ in the body that requires this
micronutrient, and a daily intake considerably more than what the
thyroid gland needs is potentially harmful. The new truth is that the
rest of the body also needs iodine, in milligram, not microgram amounts.
Tell that to a thyroidologist and her response will call to mind this
admonition on new truths.
These are the four most common formulations of inorganic
(nonradioactive) iodine, as iodide (I-), and with or without molecular
iodine (I2): Potassium iodide (KI) tablets, in doses ranging from 0.23
to 130 mg; super saturated potassium iodide (SSKI), 1950 mg of iodide
per drop; Lugols solution, 6.3 mg of molecular iodine/iodide per drop;
and Iodoral, each tablet containing 12.5 mg iodine/iodide. Both Lugols
solution and Ioderal are one-third molecular iodine (5%) and two-thirds
potassium iodide (10%). Studies done to date indicate that the best
iodine supplement is one that includes molecular iodine (I2), which
breast tissue prefers.
Iodine was used for a wide variety of ailments after its discovery in
1811 up until the mid-1900s, when thyroidologists warned that "excess"
amounts of iodine might adversely affect thyroid function. It is
effective in gram amounts for treating various dermatologic conditions,
chronic lung disease, fungal infestations, tertiary syphilis, and even
arteriosclerosis. The Nobel laureate Dr. Albert Szent Györgi
(18931986), the physician who discovered vitamin C, writes: "When I was
a medical student, iodine in the form of KI was the universal medicine.
Nobody knew what it did, but it did something and did something good. We
students used to sum up the situation in this little rhyme:
If ye dont know where, what, and why
Prescribe ye then K and I"
The standard dose of potassium iodide given was 1 gram, which contains
770 mg of iodine.
Regarding KI and other iodine salts (like sodium iodide), the venerated
11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, published in 1911, states,
"Their pharmacological action is as obscure as their effects in certain
diseased conditions are consistently brilliant. Our ignorance of their
mode of action is cloaked by the term deobstruent, which implies that
they possess the power of driving out impurities from the blood and
tissues. Most notably is this the case with the poisonous products of
syphilis. In its tertiary stage and also earlier this disease yields
in the most rapid and unmistakable fashion to iodides, so much so that
the administration of these salts is at present the best means of
determining whether, for instance, a cranial tumor be syphilitic or
not."
This 19th and early 20th century medicine continues to be used in gram
amounts in the 21st century by dermatologists. They treat inflammatory
dermatoses, like nodular vasculitis and pyoderma gangrenosum (shown
here), with SSKI, beginning with an iodine dose of 900 mg a day,
followed by weekly increases up to 6 grams a day as tolerated. Fungal
eruptions, like sporotrichosis, are treated initially in gram amounts
with great success. These lesions can disappear within two weeks after
treatment with iodine.
For many years physicians used potassium iodide in doses starting at 1.5
to 3 gm and up to more than 10 grams a day, on and off, to treat
bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with good
results and surprisingly few side effects.
There is a case report in the medical literature of a 54-year-old man
who, thinking it was iced tea, drank a "home preparation" of SSKI in
water that his aunt kept in the refrigerator for her rheumatism. Over a
short period of time he consumed 600 ml of this solution, which
contained 15 gm of iodide, an amount 100,000 times more than the RDI. He
developed swelling of the face, neck, and mouth, had transient cardiac
arrhythmias and made an uneventful recovery.
Dr. Guy Abraham, a former professor of obstetrics and gynecology at
UCLA, mounted what he calls "The Iodine Project" in 1997 after he read
the Ghent paper on iodine for fibrocystic disease. He had his company,
Optimox Corp., make Iodoral, the tablet form of Lugols solution, and he
engaged two family practice physicians, Dr. Jorge Flechas (in 2000) in
North Carolina and Dr. David Brownstein (in 2003) in Michigan to carry
out clinical studies with it.
The projects hypothesis is that maintaining whole body sufficiency of
iodine requires 12.5 mg a day, an amount similar to what the Japanese
consume. The conventional view is that the body contains 2550 mg of
iodine, of which 7080 percent resides in the thyroid gland. Dr. Abraham
concluded that whole body sufficiency exists when a person excretes 90
percent of the iodine ingested. He devised an iodine-loading test where
one takes 50 mg and measures the amount excreted in the urine over the
next 24 hours. He found that the vast majority of people retain a
substantial amount of the 50 mg dose. Many require 50 mg a day for
several months before they will excrete 90 percent of it. His studies
indicate that, given a sufficient amount, the body will retain much more
iodine than originally thought, 1,500 mg, with only 3 percent of that
amount held in the thyroid gland.
More than 4,000 patients in this project take iodine in daily doses
ranging from 12.5 to 50 mg, and in those with diabetes, up to 100 mg a
day. These investigators have found that iodine does indeed reverse
fibrocystic disease; their diabetic patients require less insulin;
hypothyroid patients, less thyroid medication; symptoms of fibromyalgia
resolve, and patients with migraine headaches stop having them. To
paraphrase Dr. Szent-Györgi, these investigators arent sure how iodine
does it, but it does something good.
Thyroid function remains unchanged in 99 percent of patients. Untoward
effects of iodine, allergies, swelling of the salivary glands and
thyroid, and iodism, occur rarely, in less than 1 percent. Iodine
removes the toxic halogens fluoride and bromide from the body. Iodism,
an unpleasant brassy taste, runny nose, and acne-like skin lesions, is
caused by the bromide that iodine extracts from the tissues. Symptoms
subside on a lesser dose of iodine.
As these physicians point out, consuming iodine in milligram doses
should, of course, be coupled with a complete nutritional program that
includes adequate amounts of selenium, magnesium, and Omega-3 fatty
acids. Done this way, an iodine intake 100 times the reference daily
intake is "the simplest, safest, most effective and least expensive way
to help solve the health care crisis crippling our nation," as the
leader of The Iodine Project, Dr. Abraham, puts it.
People who take iodine in these amounts report that they have a greater
sense of well-being, increased energy, and a lifting of brain fog. They
feel warmer in cold environments, need somewhat less sleep, improved
skin complexion, and have more regular bowel movements. These purported
health benefits need to be studied more thoroughly, as do those with
regard to fibrocystic breast disease and cancer.
Meanwhile, perhaps we should emulate the Japanese and substantially
increase our iodine intake, if not with seaweed, then with two drops of
Lugols Solution (or one Iodoral tablet) a day.
Recommended Reading:
* Miller DW. Iodine in Health and Civil Defense. Presented at the 24th
Annual Meeting of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness in Portland, Oregon,
August 6, 2006. The text for this talk, with 68 references, can be found
here, and the PowerPoint slides I used for it, here.
* Abraham GE. The safe and effective implementation of
orthoiodosupplementation in medical practice. The Original Internist
2004;11:1736. Available online here. This is a good introduction to The
Iodine Project. His other research studies are online here.
* Flechas, JD. Orthoiodosupplementation in a primary care practice.The
Original Internist 2005;12(2):8996. Available online here.
* Brownstein D. Clinical experience with inorganic, non-radioactive
iodine/iodide. The Original Internist 2005;12(3):105108. Available
online here.
* Derry D. Breast cancer and iodine: How to prevent and how to survive
breast cancer. Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing; 2002. The book is a
bit disorganized, has references at the end of each chapter not cited in
the text, and no index; but it is an eye-opener nonetheless.
* Brownstein D. Iodine: why you need it why you cant live without it.
West Bloomfield, Michigan: Medical Alternatives Press; 2004.
Well-written and referenced, with case histories.
* Low DE, Ghent WR, Hill LD. Diatomic iodine treatment for fibrocystic
disease: special report of efficacy and safety results. [Submitted to
the FDA] 1995:138. Available online here. This study makes a strong
case for iodine as the preferred treatment for fibrocystic disease.
Donald Miller is a cardiac surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the
University of Washington in Seattle. He is a member of Doctors for
Disaster Preparedness and writes articles on a variety of subjects for
LewRockwell.com. His web site is www.donaldmiller.com
Copyright © 2006 LewRockwell.com
http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller20.html
Oil of Oregano Rivals Modern Antibiotic Drugs
By: Bill Sardi
Source: http://www.lewrockwell.com
January 18, 2008
Oil pressed from oregano leaves that contain the active ingredient
carvacrol may be an effective treatment against sometimes drug-resistant
bacterial infection. Georgetown University researchers have found that
oil of oregano appears to reduce infection "as effectively as
traditional antibiotics."
Oil of oregano at relatively low doses was found to be efficacious
against Staphylococcus bacteria and was comparable in its germ-killing
properties to antibiotic drugs such as streptomycin, pencillin and
vancomycin. [Science Daily 10/11/2001] The findings were presented by
Harry G. Preuss, MD, professor of physicology and biophysics, Georgetown
University, at the American College of Nutrition's annual meeting in
Orlando, Florida. The oregano oil was obtained from North American Herb
and Spice Company, a Waukeegan, Illinois company that sponsored the
study and markets their non-prescription products in retail stores under
the trade names Oregamax and Oregacyn.
Earlier this year researchers at the Department of Food Science at the
University of Tennessee reported that, among various plant oils, oil of
oregano exhibited the greatest antibacterial action against common
pathogenic germs such as Staph, E. coli and Listeria. [Journal Food
Protection, Volume 64, July 2001] Last year British researchers reported
oregano oil had antibacterial activity against 25 different bacteria.
[Journal Applied Microbiology, Volume 88, February 2000] A clinical
study in Italy has shown that oil of oregano can be used to treat
intestinal parasites. [Phytotherapy Research, Volume 14, May 2000]
The body of positive evidence for oregano oil as a major antibiotic is
growing. Among 52 plant oils tested, oregano was considered to have
"pharmacologic" action against common bugs such as Candida albicans
(yeast), E. coli, Salmonella enterica and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
[Journal Applied Microbiology, volume 86, June 1999] Pseudomonas is a
type of germ that is getting more difficult to treat as it has developed
strains that are resistant against antibiotic drugs.
Of recent interest are reports showing that carvacrol from oil of
oregano kills spores, such as Bacillus cereus and Bacillus anthracis
(anthrax). [Archives Microbiology, Volume 174, October 2000; Quarterly
Review Biology, Volume 73, March 1998] Bacillus cereus is considered to
be from the same species as Bacillus anthracis (anthrax). [Applied
Environmental Microbiology, Volume 66, June 2000] In tests of
antibiotics and antiseptics, Bacillus cereus is often used in studies in
lieu of the anthrax strain. [University of Michigan News &
Information Service, Sept. 23, 1998]
Oil of oregano is not to be confused with common oregano in the kitchen
spice cupboard, which is usually marjoram (Origanum majorana or O.
vulgare) rather than true oregano (Origanum vulgare).
The growing problem of antibiotic resistance has health authorities
concerned. Already various germs are showing resistance to vancomycin,
particularly to intestinal bacteria (Enterococcal species) among
hospitalized patients. [Southern Medical Journal, Volume 94, August
2001] Vancomycin is considered to be the most potent antibiotic
available and is withheld from use as a drug of last resort. Vancomycin
costs about $16 per pill versus about $1 for the purest-strength oregano
oil. Drug resistance does not develop against naturally-occuring
antibiotics such as garlic and oil of oregano.
Bill Sardi [send him mail] is a health journalist at
www.askbillsardi.com.
Copyright © 2001 by the Word of Knowledge Agency, San Dimas, California.
Disclaimer
and Privacy Policy
SITE MAP