Confirmed: Bacteria From Bees Possible Alternative to Antibiotics

Heather Callaghan

Not just a possible alternative - but totally a preferable alternative to antibiotics whenever possible. People are already using this incredible healing substance without having needed a nod of approval from researchers. And no, we're not talking about using the actual bees.

While consumers of raw honey can tell you that it works wonders, researchers wanted to know exactly why? What have they been missing? What are the exact compounds that make raw honey nature's antibiotic? How has it protected bee colonies forever (until recent obstacles set in)? 

Raw honey has been used against infections for millennia, before honey - as we now know it - was manufactured and sold in stores. So what is the key to its antimicrobial properties?

Tainted Fruit - Watch Out For This Hidden Ingredient

Heather Callaghan

Case reveals possible allergy to this hidden fruit and veggie residue.

A 10-year-old girl has a history of asthma, seasonal allergies and anaphylaxis when exposed to cow's milk or penicillin.

She sat down to eat a blueberry pie, with none of those ingredients.

One bout of anaphylactic shock later, led allergist researchers to dig deeper for the trigger ingredient.

What they found concerns us all, and you'll never find it on a label. And not it's not just pesticides.

Common Antibiotic Linked with Heart Deaths

Heather Callaghan

Recently, researchers have been going back to study "time-tested" drugs only find inherent risk. For instance, a common heart drug always believed to be inherently safe is now believed to increase cardiac death. Some antibiotics were recently shown to alter immunity and lead to respiratory disease susceptibility later on.

Clarithromycin, a common antibiotic - lauded by WHO and used for wide variety of infections like gastritis, skin, lung, throat and lyme - can now be added to the list.

It belongs to a group of antibiotics known as macrolides. Macrolide antibiotics prolong the duration of electrical activity of the heart muscle (known as the QT interval) and are therefore thought to increase the risk of potentially fatal heart rhythm problems.

Early Use of Antibiotics Alters Immunity Later On

Heather Callaghan

As the gut microbiome becomes the newest hot topic in medical science, researchers are welcoming natural and nutritional approaches to optimal health and preventing disease.

A lot of studies take a doom-and-gloom tone about the devastating effects on the world from generations of immersion in antibiotics - in animals, in food and in early childhood. Some have even traced the damage to the immune system from before conception. Many are warning that there is no hope except through dramatic worldwide intervention (which includes new vaccines, newer stronger drugs).

But studies like this one from New University of British Columbia not only dissect immune-damage wrought by early use of antibiotics, but also offer some hope in correcting the problem, especially in young children.

Chief Scientist: Act Now or Live Through Deadly Post Antibiotic Resistance Era

Image

Heather Callaghan

Which is worse - a legitimate threat or the urgency of forceful solutions?

Leprosy. Bubonic Plague. Consumption. Dying from childbirth. These are periods in history that summon shudders of horror and gratitude to move beyond - but we seem to be coming around full circle.

In only the latest round of stern warnings about the antibiotic bubble, Australia's chief scientist is warning that if something drastic is not done soon, even small issues like sore throats and minor infections could be deadly one day not so far off. "There is now a genuine threat of humanity returning to an era where mortality due to common infections is rife," a new report says.

It was only in May that the UK's chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, sounded an alarm. "If we don't take action, in 20 years' time we could be back in the 19th century where infections kill us as a result of routine operations." She had said this at a World Health Assembly in Geneva. Beware of urgent warnings - we would do well to pay attention to the offered "solutions" below - which are more alarming than the threat.

A top-level Australian scientist, Ian Chubb, affirms her warning with the report from his scientists and talks of a deadly 'post anti-biotics era' saying that the miracle of modern drugs are already "developing resistance to antibiotics at an alarming pace."

Gut Biota Never Recover from Antibiotics: Damages Future Generations

Heidi Stevenson

The misuse of antibiotics is not only causing new, never-before known diseases like E. coli and MRSA, the flesh-eating bacteria, it's also destroying the gut biome with devastating effects on our ability to deal with infections and destroying our ability to absorb nutrients from food.

Emerging research shows that the harmful effects of antibiotics go much further than the development of drug resistant diseases. The beneficial bacteria lost to antibiotics, along with disease-inducing bacteria, do not fully recover. Worse, flora lost by a mother is also lost to her babies. The missing beneficial gut bacteria are likely a major factor behind much of the chronic disease experienced today. The continuous use of antibiotics is resulting in each generation experiencing worse health than their parents.

Martin Blaser, the author of a report in the prestigious journal Nature writes:

Agriculture industry science denial?

Antibiotics used in meat production - Remapping Debate

Eric Kroh
Remapping Debate

Remapping Debate has previously reported on attempts to “repeal” climate science; it appears that the U.S. agricultural industry’s widespread use of antibiotics in animals used for food is another area where science denial is at play.  Even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization are united in concluding that such use leads to human exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the industry is actively fighting efforts to restrict the routine, non-medical use of antibiotics in animals, and the FDA has yet to impose a ban.

The problem — which the FDA and sister organizations say is a risk to public health — is already enormous, and it is growing.  According to the CDC, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, an antibiotic-resistant bacteria commonly known as MRSA, kills an estimated 19,000 people per year in the United States. The cost of fighting antibiotic-resistant microbes exceeds $20 billion per year.

Medical misuse of antibiotics in humans is part of the problem.  But another contributor is the misuse of the drugs in food animals. According to the FDA, a staggering 80 percent of the antibiotics used in the United States is used on livestock animals.

Livestock producers do not simply use antibiotics to treat sick animals. They also use antibiotics to promote growth or feed efficiency. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that 70 percent of the antibiotics used in the U.S. is used in food animals for non-therapeutic reasons — that is, for reasons other than treating disease. According to the FDA, 90 percent of the antibiotics given to animals is distributed via animal feed or water, a method that critics say is used primarily for non-therapeutic reasons.

Read Full Article

Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter:


Delivered by FeedBurner