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alt=""/> A further 15,000 people’s deaths are being contributed to infections they catch – when they are in the hospital.
One in every 16 patients who goes into the hospital for anything at all will develop a ‘hospital acquired infection’ (HAI) – a serious illness which they catch from someone in the hospital, usually a member of staff.
In intensive care units the rate is as high as one patient in every five developing an HAI.
The most common of the infections acquired in this way relate to the bladder, chest and surgical wounds – and many of them involve difficult to treat ‘superbugs’ (see below).
In the US, figures published in 1994 show that one patient out of every 10 develops infections caught in the hospital, and that this involves around 2.5 million people every year.
Every year 20,000 of these people die from – and the deaths of a further 60,000 are contributed to by – the hospital acquired infections, a huge number of them involving antibiotic resistant superbugs.2
Internal Ecological Damage
There is, however, another major outcome from the use of antibiotics which forms a less obvious but nevertheless very important part of the crisis story; the devastation that occurs in the internal environment of the body, its own ecology, especially that of the intestinal tract where hundreds of trillions of ‘friendly’ bacteria live and provide life-supporting services for us.
When antibiotics are used against ‘bad’ bacteria which infect us, these friendly bacteria are also damaged or killed. This is why major sections of this book will describe ways in which this internal ecological damage can be minimized or avoided (by using alternatives to antibiotics and improving our own natural defense systems – see Chapters 5, 6 and 9).
The range of conditions which can develop as a result of antibiotics causing damage to the normal intestinal flora is very wide indeed and can include:
elevated cholesterol levels – because the friendly bacteria may not be able to adequately perform their usual ‘recycling’ role (see Chapter 8)
menopausal symptoms, including osteoporosis – more likely and more severe because the friendly bacteria may not be able to perform their normal estrogen- and progesterone-recycling tasks (see Chapter 8)
premenstrual and gynecological symptoms – likely to be more severe for the same reasons
liver disease – more likely because the friendly bacteria may not be able to perform their normal detoxification tasks, so causing excessive loading of the liver
chronic digestive and bowel problems – because of the ecological damage caused to the normal flora, which are vital to normal digestion and intestinal function
increased risk of bladder infections – because of this ecological disorder, which allows the overgrowth of undesirable bacteria and yeasts that are often the ‘reservoir’ for infections in the bladder
serious arthritic conditions – can develop after antibiotic damage to the bowel flora (for complicated reasons which are explained further in Chapter 8)
depressed immune function – a not uncommon antibiotic sequel (as explained in Chapter 5)
and many, many more health problems, ranging from acne to kidney disease, can be linked to antibiotics …
The really important messages which should emerge from the discussions and evidence which will be presented in this and later chapters include the facts that –
Antibiotics can save lives – when used appropriately: right place, right situation, right time, right antibiotic for the correct bacteria, right amount, right means of administration (by mouth or by injection, for example), etc.
Antibiotics are more often prescribed ‘wrongly’ (see below) than correctly – up to 70 percent of the time, say some experts.
One of the results of this wrong use is the emergence of strains of bacteria which can no longer be killed by antibiotics (there are a variety of other reasons for resistance developing, as will be explained).
Even when used appropriately, antibiotics almost always damage the internal environment – especially of the intestinal tract – and this can itself lead to an assortment of health problems later on.
There are tactics, which will be explained, by means of which many of the dangers and side-effects of antibiotic use can be reduced or avoided, particularly by replenishing and revitalizing the important bacterial flora which live inside us, as explained in Chapters 7 and 9.
There are alternatives to the use of antibiotics; the most important of these is an efficient immune system. Methods for encouraging this will be detailed in Chapters 5 and 6.
The antibiotic crisis we face will be evaluated from different perspectives in those sections of the book which deal with protective tactics.
First it is necessary to look briefly at the individual characteristics of a selection of bacteria, as well as at the different types of antibiotics and how they are thought to work.
The ‘alternatives’ to the present ways of handling infection will include the use of strategies that can enhance immune function, make our natural defenses work more efficiently, and reduce toxicity, as well as ways in which damaged internal ecological systems can be repaired or improved.
After that we will survey the short- and long-term dangers of using antibiotics, descriptions will be presented, along with the evidence which supports them, by means of which we can safely reduce the hazards which antibiotics present.
alt=""/> A further 15,000 people’s deaths are being contributed to infections they catch – when they are in the hospital.
