Bug one-ups modern medicine

The Detroit Free Press is reporting on a topic I first heard about over the summer. It seems that a woman was hospitalized and discovered to be harboring a staph infection that was non-receptive to vancomycin, one of the "last resort" antibiotics used by doctors.

More troubling is this:

By stealing genetic material from another bug, the new strain became totally resistant to vancomycin, the longtime drug of last defense against it.

The implications of this statement are staggering. It's not a long shot to assume other acquired immunities to other agents might also be incorporated, building the "super bug", completely resistant to conventional anti-biotic treatments.

"It's a serious threat now, and it's getting worse fast. It's dramatically more of a public health threat than pesticides on food."

To combat resistance and ensure drugs work when needed, health officials want people to do without antibiotics when infections are not life-threatening, said Matt Boulton, Michigan's state epidemiologist.

"We have to change consumer attitudes," he said. "There should not always be an expectation that you'll leave the doctor's office with antibiotics."

No kidding. Luckily for us herbalist, nature provides us with many botanicals that prove very effective. And unlike the single-point offense provided by man-made or isolated chemical compounds, full-spectrum botanicals put forth a multi-pronged attack or defense, reducing the chance of resistance being built up by the offending micro-organism.

From drugmaker Pharmacia, Vice President Ferdinand Massari said it's harder to find new drugs. It takes at least a decade and $100 million to try, he said.

"For every one drug that you see in the store, there are probably 10,000 that were tested and didn't make it,"

Not in our world. Maybe holistic medicine has the advantage over conventional in this new arena we find ourselves in?

Posted by Evo Terra at November 14, 2002 01:40 PM | TrackBack (0)