Care2Healthy Living /Michelle Schoffro Cook: Are Antibiotics Nearly Obselete?

Are Antibiotics Nearly Obsolete?
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    By: Michelle Schoffro Cook
    February 24, 2019

Antibiotic resistance has become a global health crisis of massive proportions. Our overuse and abuse of antibiotics (like demanding our doctors prescribe them for colds and flus), veterinary abuse of the drugs, and antibacterial soaps and other products, have all contributed to our current state where few antibiotics work against many of the bacterial diseases we are facing.

New research indicates that superbugs may be far worse than we previously believe. In a study published in the medical journal Environment International, researchers were astounded to find superbugs in the permafrost in remote arctic areas of Norway.

The team intended to study how methane gas released by the melting ice may relate to global climate change, but instead found a host of superbugs that should not have been living in such a remote location.

According to Professor Jennifer Roberts from the University of Kansas in Lawrence in an interview with Medical News Today, “we found…superbug antibiotic-resistant genes like the New Delhi gene, which first emerged in India not very long ago. This was a surprise – the genes we found clearly had a short transfer time between being discovered in India and our group detecting them in the Arctic only a few years later.”

Combine the group’s findings with the growing resistance of bacteria to what many medical authorities consider our best defense against superbugs—antibiotics—and we have the potential for serious health issues. Experts are concerned that we’re nearing the era where antibiotics will no longer work.

Currently, antibiotic drugs like methicillin are not effective against bacteria known as Staphylococcus aureus which is how the bacteria attained its more commonly-known name MRSA, which stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Although there are still antibiotics other than methicillin that can treat the disease that is linked to systemic infection of the blood, heart, spinal cord or bones, some experts estimate that we are only a few years away from the disease having no drug-based antibiotic treatment at all.

Bacteria like E. coli, which is the underlying bacteria in many urinary tract infections, is also frequently resistant to treatment. Other bacteria are also discovering how to outsmart antibiotic treatments.

Although fear may be the natural reaction to the situation we are now facing—and rightfully so—the story is not one of “doom and gloom,” it is actually one of hope and empowerment. One of the things we are learning about bacteria is that they outsmart substances that are fairly simple, from a molecular point of view, and knowing that may be helpful as we battle them in the future. That’s because many natural substances are not simple in structure, but are actually quite complex.

Some natural remedies, including: probiotics, herbs and essential oils are increasingly being found to be promising against bacterial infections.

In one study published in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, researchers found that probiotics can play a role in both the prevention and treatment of MRSA infections. Scientists at Bio-Assistance in Montreal, Canada, found that many probiotic strains exhibited antibacterial activity against the superbug that causes the disease.

Other substances like cinnamon, garlic, German chamomile, Manuka honey and others are also demonstrating their effectiveness against bacterial infections. As more research explores these natural approaches, we’ll have a better understanding of their practical application in the prevention and treatment of superbugs. For more information check out my blog, “8 Surprisingly-Effective Natural Antibiotics.”
Related Stories:

    8 Surprisingly Effective Natural Antibiotics
    Can Your Gut Protect You Against Cancer?
    How to Heal Your Body After Antibiotic Use

Dr. Michelle Schoffro Cook, PhD, DNM shares her food growing, cooking, and other food self-sufficiency adventures at FoodHouseProject.com. She is the publisher of the free e-newsletter World’s Healthiest News, founder of Scentsational Wellness, and an international best-selling and 20-time published book author whose works include: The Cultured Cook: Delicious Fermented Foods with Probiotics to Knock Out Inflammation, Boost Gut Health, Lose Weight & Extend Your Life. Follow her work.


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11 comments
Maggie D5 minutes ago

As the immune system is considered to originate in the gut, it makes sense to me to take a probiotic every day. Since I started doing so, I have stayed healthy, apart from only two colds, that each lasted three days, in two and a half years. An immune specialist told my partner (over a game of golf) that he would strongly advise probiotics for the immune system. Research into and treatment using immunotherapy drugs are having wonderful results with cancer.
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Carol S3 hours ago

Other substances like cinnamon, garlic, German chamomile, Manuka honey and others are also demonstrating their effectiveness against bacterial infections.

Baloney!
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RK R3 hours ago

Bacteria will win. At least they are cultured.
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Danuta W5 hours ago

thanks for sharing
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Louise A8 hours ago

thank you for posting
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Angela K9 hours ago

noted
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Sue H11 hours ago

Helpful information, thanks.
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Ann B13 hours ago

we have all built up such resistencie's to them and allergies BUT the bottom line is the pharmaceutical companies will never stop and neither will the doctors that OVER prescribe
SEND
Helen C13 hours ago

thank you
SEND
JoAnn Paris14 hours ago

Thank you for this very interesting article.
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