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Thorsons
An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
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London SE1 9GF
First published by Thorsons as
Antibiotic Crisis, Antibiotic Alternatives 1998
© Leon Chaitow 1998
Leon Chaitow asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN 9780007122479
Ebook Edition © JULY 2016 ISBN: 9780008212896
Version: 2016-08-24
Chapter 1 The Antibiotic Crisis
Chapter 2 Bacteria – The Good, the Bad, and the Frightening
Chapter 3 The Story So Far: A Brief History of Antibiotic Use
Chapter 4 How the Major Antibiotics Work – and Some Problems
Chapter 5 Immune Enhancement: Lifestyle, Detoxification, and Mind-Body Factors
Chapter 6 Immune Enhancement: Supplements, Herbs, Hydrotherapy, and Acupuncture
Chapter 7 Ecological Damage Caused by Antibiotics – The Yeast Connection
Chapter 8 Antibiotics, Bowel Flora, and Illness
Chapter 9 Probiotics – What to Do If You Have to Take Antibiotics
Chapter 10 Children, Antibiotics, and Probiotics
Crisis, What Crisis?
Health care in the industrialized world has never been more available, or so we are told.
… And yet there really is a crisis, as we will see.
Old diseases such as TB which were thought to be history are back, and are often untreatable because the bacterial agents which cause the infections have become resistant to antibiotics which previously controlled them easily.
This acquired resistance presents an enormous threat to the health of us all, not just those who are malnourished and impoverished.
Whether or not more and more hospitals and high-tech diagnostic and treatment methods equate with better health for the general public is itself open to question. However, what is not debatable is the fact that one of the most potent tools in the medical tool-box, antibiotics, are no longer working on many extremely dangerous bacteria, or only work when used in amounts so high that they are likely to cause serious side-effects.
The evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria – superbugs – therefore forms a significant part of the story we need to examine in order to understand the crisis.
The UK Office of Health Economics reported in September 19971 that –
