Malaria. A 'terrifying prospect' of a parasite in SE Asia that is now resistant to drugs, and spreading rapidly

Malaria is in the news again. Apparently malarial parasites that have become resistant to key pharmaceutical drugs have spread rapidly in South East Asia, according to researchers from the UK and Thailand. The parasites have moved from Cambodia to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, and first-choice drugs are no longer working. The researchers say that their findings raise a "terrifying prospect" that this drug-resistent parasite could spread to the African continent.

This is yet another example of the failure of conventional medicine.

It is the BBC, yet again, who are promoting this story. Their health journalists have a fascination with the disease, often shamelessly promoting the pharmaceutical drugs that are used to treat malaria. As recently as July 2018 the BBC was promoting the drug Tafenoquine as "a phenomenal achievement". Presumably the malaria parasite did not agree with this assessment!

Only a few years earlier, in October 2013, the BBC were extolling the virtues of a new vaccine for malaria. This vaccine was presented to us then as the answer to the problem of malaria. Now? Not a mention. One must ask what has happened to this wonder drug.

And  I still remember the disgracefully biased BBC Newsnight programme, broadcast on 4th January 2011, in which KirstyWark described conventional pharmaceutical drug treatment for Malaria as 'proper medicine' (which of course meant that homeopathy was not 'proper medicine'), and carried out a deeply hostile interview with a homeopath, her message, "How dare homeopathy claim that it can treat malaria?"

Malaria was the subject of one of the most popular, and most revisited pages on this blog; It was written in November 2012, entitled "The Prevention and Treatment of Malaria with Homeopathy". The reason for its popularity is, no doubt, that people are looking for safer and more effective treatment for malaria than Kirsty's 'proper medicine' can now deliver. Certainly the failure of conventional medicine to treat malaria is bad news for those people living in areas where the disease is rife, or to people who visit those areas. For them malaria is really a 'terrifying prospect'.

The good news is that homeopathy continues to work in preventing and treating malaria. There is no resistance to it. It is doing so in small schemes operating in various parts of Africa and elsewhere. The success of these schemes, tiny as they are, continues to be reassuring. When conventional medicine says that "there is no effective treatment" for malaria it really should be saying that there is no effective conventional treatment for malaria with pharmaceutical drugs (and vaccines too)!

So for anyone looking for a treatment for malaria have a look at homeopathy. First, have a look at my "Why Homeopathy?" website. Then book an appointment with a local homeopath.

Yet a work of caution. After Kirsty Wark's 'sting' on homeopathy in 2011 any homeopath you contact may seem to be rather cautious, and unforthcoming. You will need to assure him/her that you are a genuine patient, who has a genuine need for treatment for malaria.

Government plan to combat an "Urgent Global Threat. The failure of Antibiotics & the creation of Superbugs leads to the pharmaceutical industry being rewarded for a problem it has caused

The UK government has announced a 5-year plan, and 20-year 'vision', aimed at overcoming antimicrobial resistance, the British government's response to the growing problem of drug resistant bacteria, viruses, parasites infections, and infectious diseases. The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock has said that the situation is so serious that even a simple graze could be deadly:

               "Antimicrobial resistance is as big a danger to humanity as climate change or warfare."

This is the depth to which conventional medicine is failing. This dreadful new world, without effective antibiotic drugs, has previously been described by the government's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, as 'an antibiotic apocalypse' in June 2015. Yet both the contents of the plan, its urgency, and the reasoning that underlays it, needs to be carefully examined.

We have been told for many years that the overuse of antibiotics is making infections harder to treat, with many thousands of deaths every year being caused by drug-resistant superbugs. And it has been pointed out elsewhere, including in this blog, that this problem is one exclusively for the conventional medical establishment.

The 'threat' is a threat to the conventional medicine, not to medicine. It is NOT a problem for natural medicine, including homeopathy. The government plan fails to recognise this. It makes the usual assumption that conventional medicine = medicine - the whole of medicine, medicine in its entirety, that there is not alternative to it.

The government plan also continues to attempt to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use, by 15% for humans in 5 years, and by 25% for animals over the next year. The problem is that drug companies do not like the idea of selling fewer drugs, and this is one of the main reasons they have decided not to develop new antibiotics. They are in the health business for profit, not for our good!

To counteract this problem the plan proposes to change how it funds pharmaceutical drug companies - to encourage them to develop new drugs, new antibiotics, to deal with conventional medicine's crisis.

The plan asks the drugs advisory body, NICE (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) and NHS England to trial a new payment arrangement which ensure that drug companies are paid for drugs on the basis of how valuable the drugs are rather than by the quantity sold. The government believes that paying drug companies for the amount of antibiotics sold has led to this "market failure". The new new payment method will encourage companies to invest in the development of new antibiotics.

For the drug companies it means the guarantee of a hugely increased price for selling fewer drugs. It is, in other words, a reward for failure. 

So although it is widely accepted that antibiotic drugs have caused the problem of superbugs, and the distress, illness and death they have cause, the plan's solution to the problem produce more, presumably more powerful antibiotics. Conventional medicine never learns!

The mainstream media should be (but aren't) asking an important question. Is the conventional medical establishment (of which the government and the NHS is an important part) able to recognise what has CAUSED the problem of antibiotic resistance, and the CREATION of superbugs?

More of the same failed medicine is NOT a new policy, nor is it a policy likely to have a different outcome, namely more drug resistance, more superbugs, more medical panic, more pharmaceutical profits.

Nor does the plan recognise that antibiotic drugs are now known to cause serious health problems for people who have taken them, often in large quantities over their lifetime. The plan fails to recognise that antibiotic drugs have caused significant patient harm over the 70 years of their existence. Antibiotic drugs are indiscriminate killers of bacteria that over the years have devastated the gut and its micro biome. As a result they are implicated in the rise of obesity, diarrhoea, constipation, asthma, eczema, diabetes, liver damage, heart disease and breast cancer. They are part of the reason for the increase, and even the creation of 'new' diseases like irritable bowel, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and much more.

But apparently none of this matters! None of this is ever mentioned by our doctors, the NHS, or the mainstream media. We are going to get more antibiotics, and drug companies are going to be rewarded for providing them, whether it is good for us or not!

Antibiotics are failing. Our Government and Conventional Medicine does not know what to do. This is the advice provided for government by the Alliance of Registered Homeopaths

Written evidence from the Alliance of Registered Homeopaths (ARH)

1. Declaration of interests
The Alliance of Registered Homeopaths (ARH) is the second largest voluntary registering and regulatory body for the homeopathy profession in the UK, and currently represents just under one thousand qualified homeopaths. ARH is set up as a Company Limited by Guarantee, and is a not for profit organisation. ARH has based its regulatory criteria on the UK National Occupational Standards for Homeopathy (NOS), which were developed and agreed across the profession. We are committed to supporting and promoting a high standard of safe, effective homeopathic practice, and to ensure that quality homeopathy is available to all who wish to use it.

2. An overview of antimicrobial resistance
In 2001 the World Health Organisation (WHO) published its global strategy for containment of antimicrobial resistance. (1) Acknowledging the urgent need for all countries to take effective action to reduce AMR, the WHO strategy included several important recommendations such as:

     * Encouraging more appropriate use of antimicrobials
     * Reducing antimicrobial use in food production animals
     * Reducing antimicrobial use by improving both public health and domestic hygiene routines
     * Developing knowledge and understanding of AMR
     * Developing new drugs to combat AMR

3. In 2012, the WHO published ‘The evolving threat of antimicrobial resistance; Options for action (2) is a book which re-emphasised the urgency of the situation, redefined the actions necessary to effectively manage AMR, and encouraged policy makers and the global community to commit to increasing their actions to combat AMR. A detailed account of the threat posed to public health by AMR is outlined in Volume II of the Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report (2011), which was published in March 2013. (3) This report also makes a number of recommendations which broadly concur with the findings of the earlier WHO publication. The situation is clear; AMR has become a major threat to world health. Infectious diseases already place a social and economic burden on society, so an increase in AMR is likely to have a significant impact in three main areas:

     I. Loss of productivity due to absence from work as a result of minor illnesses (this cited as the cause for over one fifth of all lost work days in the UK during 20113).
     II. Increased need for hospitalisation as a result of unresolved infectious diseases (in the UK, it is estimated that the costs to the health service, labour market, and to individuals, amounts to £30 billion/year (3).
     III. Increased mortality resulting from infectious diseases, or routine interventions/surgical procedures, which respond to currently available antimicrobial drugs.

4. Research into other treatments
Although the development of new drugs is one of the recommendations listed to combat AMR, experience suggests that this may prove to be a self limiting approach. Microorganisms have the ability to modify over a relatively short period of time, leading to the development of new strains, which are resistant to antimicrobial drugs. An approach to AMR which focuses on improving general health and reducing the use of antimicrobial drugs, is more likely to produce long term benefits.

5. This observation is supported by the results from a recent retrospective cross-sectional analysis of national primary care prescribing data, undertaken by researchers from the University of Bristol in England during 2016 (4). In this study, a group of UK, German and Dutch researchers led by Bristol University, set out to examine if there was any difference between antibiotic prescription rates in conventional GP practices, and GP practices where doctors had an additional training in integrative approaches (ie, they had also been trained in a complementary/alternative (CAM) system of medicine). This study used NHS digital monthly prescribing data for 2016 and covered 7,274 surgeries. The data was then compared with results taken from nine surgeries where GPs had been trained in integrative medicine (IM). As well as looking at overall anti-biotic prescribing, the study also considered anti-biotic prescriptions made specifically for respiratory infections and urinary tract infections (UTI).

6. Analysis showed no significant difference between the two types of practice when it came to anti-biotic prescriptions for the treatment of UTIs. However, practices that employed GPs trained in IM has significantly lower anti-biotic prescribing rates overall, than those with GPs with a conventional training only. The treatment of respiratory infections also required less anti-biotic prescriptions in surgeries using an integrated approach.

7. It is acknowledged that the results of this study are limited by the lack of data in several areas, such as the number of consultations, individual GP characteristics, individual deprivation scores and continuum of care. Also, the number of practices which have GPs trained in IM is small because accessibility of IM/CAM within the NHS in general practice in England is very limited. Currently, IM/CAM provision is currently almost exclusively private in the UK.

8. Nevertheless, the authors of this study have concluded that the difference seen in antibiotic prescribing rates at practices with GPs trained in IM warranted further study. Significantly, the lower antibiotic prescription rates of practices with GPs trained in IM are in line with current national guidance aimed at reducing antibiotic usage and antimicrobial resistance.

9. The fight against antimicrobial resistance should include utilizing additional treatment strategies to manage infections commonly encountered in primary care. One such intervention is homeopathy, which has been successfully used to treat a wide range of medical conditions, since the early 1800’s. Some historical, and more recent, examples follow below:

10. Homeopathy and epidemics
Extensive medical records exist, recording the effectiveness of homeopathy in the treatment of epidemics. For example, in the pre antibiotic era, homeopathy was successfully used to treat the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918, a fact which has been well documented, especially in the US. The medical records of hospitals across the country consistently show a mortality rate of above 28% in sufferers treated allopathically, as opposed to a mortality rate of just over 1% of those treated with homeopathy. A more detailed account of homeopathy's efficacy in treating the Spanish flu outbreak in the US, is documented in a report to the Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, entitled 'Homeopathy in Influenza – A Chorus of Fifty in Harmony. (5)

11. In 2008, a groundbreaking research study was conducted in Cuba, where homeopathy was used to prevent an outbreak of leptospirosis in 2.4 million people during the hurricane season. The results of this remarkable experiment were first presented at a conference in Havana in December 2008. The Cuban based Finlay Institute, responsible for the production of allopathic vaccines, is also involved in the research and development of homeopathic products. They were responsible for the manufacture of a homeopathic Leptospira nosode, which was rapidly made available to populations in the three areas most affected by the hurricanes. The result was that following the intervention, a dramatic decrease in mortality was observed, with confirmed cases of Leptospirosis at lower levels than normally expected. (6) Furthermore, there were no fatalities in hospitalized cases. This compared to several thousand confirmed cases of Leptospirosis in previous years, including some fatalities, even in populations where the allopathic vaccine had been used. Another feature of this study was its cost efficiency. The Leptospirosis nosode programme had been delivered at a total cost of around US$200,000, whereas a 'normal' vaccination programme, which would only be delivered to the most 'at risk' population, would be expected to cost in the region of US$3,000,000. The implications of these findings to third world countries, struggling to provide effective health interventions at a price they can afford, are massive.

12. The Finlay Institute has continued to use a homeopathic prophylaxis against Leptospirosis since 2008, and the results have shown a significant reduction in the occurrence of this disease. The subsequent studies demonstrate the potential effectiveness of homeopathic prophylaxis in reducing the spread of an infectious disease which would normally be widespread, and would probably require antimicrobial drugs to be used as part of a treatment routine.

13. Homeopathy and infections
Respiratory disorders, such as pneumonia, have been identified as a leading cause of infectious disease related mortality, especially in our increasingly ageing population. Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) occur frequently in children, and in one study assessing morbidity in pre school children due to URTI (7), the authors observed that over 58% of the study cohort developed a common cold, and over a twelve month period, over 47% had more than two colds. There appears to be a link between a compromised immune system leading to recurrent infections, and the over prescription of antimicrobial drugs. For several decades, antibiotics have been used to treat common conditions such as upper respiratory tract disorders, even before they develop symptoms associated with bacteriological involvement, and now it is recognized that this intervention may lead to complications in addition to recurrent infections, such as disruption of pro bacteria in the colon, which can result in abdominal pain and diarrhoea. One outcomes based trial, originally intended as a cost evaluation of the effectiveness of homeopathy, demonstrates that homeopathy can provide a valuable treatment option for some respiratory disorders.

14. A cost evaluation of the treatment of respiratory disorders, was undertaken in the Campo di Marte Hospital, Tuscany, Italy, from 1998 – 2003. (8) The cost of conventional drug treatment given to a group of patients suffering from asthma and recurring respiratory disorders, was monitored for one year prior the introduction of homeopathic treatment, then compared to the conventional drug costs incurred over a two year period, following the introduction of homeopathic treatment. The analysis shows a reduction in drug costs specific to respiratory disorders of over 46%, and a reduction of general drug costs of over 42% in the patient group given homeopathy. Overall patient wellbeing also improved significantly, a fact which undoubtedly contributed to the reduction in drug requirements. For the patient group suffering from asthma specifically, conventional drug costs were reduced by 71% during the first year of homeopathic treatment, compared to the group receiving only conventional medication, whose drug requirements resulted in a 12% increase in overall costs. According to a news release from Asthma UK, dated 21 October 2009, the treatment of asthma in the UK costs an estimated £1 billion per year. The Italian study shows a cost saving on conventional drugs ranging from between 42% to 71% over a two year period. This makes the long term implications for delivering effective, cost efficient treatment of asthma with homeopathy, highly significant.

15. Evidence which shows the effectiveness of homeopathy
A number of scientists consider the randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial (RCT) to represent a gold standard for determining the efficacy of a therapeutic intervention. However, RCT's have several inherent fundamental flaws: They are designed to support/enhance a particular outcome. The results they produce can, either intentionally or unintentionally, be interpreted to reflect the required outcomes. RCT protocols are founded on a number of broad generalisations and assumptions, making it difficult to take into account the reactions of each individual participant. RCT's were originally developed as an appraisal tool, and were intended to support and augment evidence acquired through other, more observation based means. Because homeopathy is a system of medicine in which individualisation is key to a successful prescription, gathering evidence via RCT's presents a significant challenge. However, a number of RCT's looking for quantitative evidence to support the efficacy of homeopathy, have been undertaken. For example, in 1997, a meta analysis of data extracted from 89 clinical trials was published in The Lancet, (9) and concluded that the results showed the beneficial action of homeopathy could not be attributed to the placebo affect alone. Two subsequent reviews, analysing trials from the same data set, corroborated this conclusion, (10, 11) though less strikingly than the original systematic review. This highlights a problem associated with meta analyses in general, which is that the quality of the reviews under consideration determines the usefulness of the information extracted via systematic analysis. Another problem may arise when the researcher selects the reviews to be analysed, via criteria likely to influence the outcome. Undoubtedly there is a valuable place for the RCT within scientific research, providing its limitations are fully acknowledged when interpreting the resulting data.

16. Most RCTs in homeopathy are small scale when compared to RCTs in conventional medicine, however they consistently indicate a positive outcome. For example, a study undertaken between 2002-2004 in Trondheim, Norway, (12) investigated whether individualized homeopathic treatment could be effective in preventing URTIs in children. One hundred and sixty nine children under the age of ten, who all had a history of URTIs, were selected, and randomly assigned to either receive individualized homeopathic treatment, or conventional care, over a twelve week period. This was a pragmatic trial, designed to measure the effectiveness of homeopathic treatment under everyday ‘real life’ circumstances. The children who received homeopathic treatment experienced fewer days suffering from URTIs (an average of eight days, compared to thirteen in the control group), and had significantly fewer symptoms, suggesting that homeopathy can be effective in both the prevention and treatment of URTIs in children.

17. Other RCTs have shown homeopathy to be effective in treating childhood infections such as glue ear, where antibiotics would normally otherwise be used. In 1999, a small scale study (13) concluded that the group of children treated with homeopathy required less antibiotics and less visits to the specialist, than the group receiving standard care. A different trial, which was comparative and non-randomized, showed that children suffering from acute otitis media14 experienced more rapid pain relief, and a reduction in recurrence of infection, following homeopathic treatment, when compared to the group of children treated conventionally. Undoubtedly, there is a need to undertake more RCTs in homeopathy in order to further develop our knowledge of the potential of homeopathy in reducing AMR. Further research is also required in the fields of outcomes-based evidence, (which can either be clinically sourced, or patient generated in the form of a 'measure yourself medical outcome profile' (MYMOP)), and empirical evidence, which is data acquired through direct observation, usually under controlled circumstances, where results are reported according to previously agreed protocols. There may be some overlap with outcomes-based evidence.

18. The overuse of antibiotics in production animals
In April 2011, the Director General of the WHO, Dr Margaret Chan, issued a stark warning about the imminent dangers presented by antibiotic resistance. As part of a panel discussion entitled ‘Antibiotic resistance. No action today, no cure tomorrow’, Dr Chan presented some of the facts currently being considered in this investigation. In the European Union, Norway and Iceland, an estimated twenty five thousand people die each year from common resistant bacterial infections. This figure is taken from about half of the fifty three member states within the WHO European Region, and the death toll from all of Europe in unknown, but without question, antibiotic resistance is increasing at an alarming rate. All this carries financial costs as well as human costs, with the EU alone paying out an estimated €1.5 billion on dealing with the consequences of antibiotic resistant organisms.

19. Dr Chan was also critical of the overuse of antibiotics in production animals, warning that resistant bacteria can easily spread via the food chain. It appears that outside of the EU, low doses of antibiotics are routinely used to aid growth promotion, a practice which carries health implications for all of us. Globally, it is estimated that about 80% of antibiotic use, is in production animals, including fish, meat, dairy and egg production. Tetracycline has been added to a paint applied to the hulls of ships, in order to reduce accumulations of barnacles and algae. This is certainly an area where alternatives to antibiotics need to be considered.

20. Homeopathy has been used to treat both domestic and farm animals for many decades, and although most of the literature supporting its effectiveness is empirical, a number of RCTs involving veterinary homeopathy have been conducted. In 2012, the first full study of RCTs in veterinary homeopathy was published (15). Out of one hundred and fifty published trials, just thirty-eight met the researchers rigorous criteria of representing a ‘substantive report of a clinical treatment or prophylaxis trial in veterinary homeopathic medicine randomised and controlled and published in a peer-reviewed journal’, and only three trials focused on individualised homeopathy (the remainder using a non-individualised approach, such as homeopathic prophylaxis). A full and systematic review of all the selected studies is currently being undertaken, and the results will further develop our knowledge and understanding of the effectiveness of homeopathy in enhancing the general health of production animals.

21. In the UK, an increasing number of farmers are becoming aware of the role homeopathy has to play in improving general levels of health and wellbeing in their production animals.
Just over nine years ago, a small group of homeopaths and homeopathic vets, established a course designed to help farmers learn how to use homeopathy safely and effectively. This teaching course developed into Homeopathy at Wellie Level (HAWL), and has since taught over five hundred farmers about the use homeopathy as an additional tool within their normal health management strategy. Farmers who have completed a HAWL course have consistently observed an improvement in the overall health of their animals, and have found themselves better able to take immediate and appropriate action in a range of emergency situations.

22. In conclusion
This submission has been an attempt to demonstrate the breadth and range of homeopathy as an effective treatment option for a number of conditions where antibiotics might otherwise be used. It focuses mainly on section two of this investigation’s terms of reference; ‘What should be the key actions and priorities Government’s next AMR strategy?’ AMR is a problem which will prove challenging to resolve, but it is to be hoped that increased awareness of the health crisis we currently face, will encourage policy makers and healthcare providers, to invest in developing our knowledge and understanding of how homeopathy, and other CAM interventions, can be used instead of anti-biotics, to effectively treat infectious diseases.

23. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Research Consortium (16) was established in 2015 to explore CAM’s potential role in the future treatment of common infectious diseases. The objective of this consortium is to investigate and further develop effective CAM treatments for infectious diseases affecting both humans and animals. Perhaps the time is now right for the UK to consider establishing its own consortium, with similar objectives.

Karin Mont, on behalf of the Alliance of Registered Homeopaths
28 June 2018


Bibliography
1/ WHO Global Strategy for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance – WHO/CDS/CSR/DRS/2001.2

2/ The evolving threat of antimicrobial resistance; Options for action - WHO Patient Safety Programme, 2012

3/ Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer; Volume II, 2011 – Infections and the rise of antimicrobial resistance (DoH, March 2013)

4/ van der Werf ET, Duncan LJ, von Flotow P, Baars EW (BMJ Open, March 2018) - Do NHS GP surgeries employing GPs additionally trained in integrative or complementary medicine have lower antibiotic prescribing rates? Retrospective cross-sectional analysis of national primary care prescribing data in England in 2016

5/ Dewey, WA. Homeopathy in Influenza – A Chorus of Fifty in Harmony. Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, 1921

6/ Bracho, G, et al - Large-scale application of highly-diluted bacteria for Leptospirosis epidemic control –- Homeopathy (2010) 99, 156e166 (Faculty of Homeopathy)

7/ Kvaerner KJ, Nafstad P, Jaakkola JJ. - Upper respiratory morbidity in preschool children: a cross-sectional study - ArchOtolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2000; 126: 1201–1206.

8/ Rossi E, Crudeli L, Endrizzi C, Garibaldi D - Cost-benefit evaluation of homeopathic versus conventional therapy in respiratory diseases. 2009

9/ Linde K, Clausius N, Ramirez G, et al. - Are the clinical effects of homoeopathy placebo effects? A meta- analysis of placebo-controlled trials. Lancet, 1997; 350: 834–843

10/ Linde K, Scholz M, Ramirez G, et al. - Impact of study quality on outcome in placebo controlled trials of homeopathy. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 1999; 52: 631–636.

11/ Ernst E. - A systematic review of systematic reviews of homeopathy. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2002; 54: 577–582

12/ Steinsbekk, A. Fønnebø, V. Lewith, G. Bentzen, N. - Homeopathic care for the prevention of upper respiratory tract infections in children: A pragmatic, randomised, controlled trial comparing
individualised homeopathic care and waiting-list controls – Elsevier Publications - Complementary Therapies in Medicine (2005) 13, 231—238

13/ Harrison H, Fixsen A, Vickers A. - A randomized comparison of homoeopathic and standard care for the treatment of glue ear in children. Complement Ther Med 1999;7(3):132—5

14/ Friese KH, Kruse S, Ludtke R, Moeller H. The homoeopathic treatment of otitis media in children—– comparisons with conventional therapy. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther1997;35(7):296—301

15/ Mathie RT, Hacke D, Clausen J. Randomised controlled trials of veterinary homeopathy: Characterising the peer-reviewed research literature for systematic review. Homeopathy 2012; 101: 196–203. [doi: 10.1016/j.homp.2012.05.009]

16/ Kok, E.T et al (2015) - Resistance to Antibiotics and Antifungal Medicinal Products: Can Complementary and Alternative Medicine Help Solve the Problem in Common Infection Diseases? The Introduction of a Dutch Research Consortium. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2015, Article ID 521584

Antibiotic Drugs. Resistance is part of their failure. But they are also dangerous

Antibiotic drugs have been the most magic of all 'magic pills', the most wonderful of all 'wonder drugs'. They have been in the vanguard of the conventional medical success, however shallow this 'success' may have been. They have been used, and over-used by doctors for decades. We have been taught to believe that they effective and entirely safe.

Yet now it is well documented that they are failing. They are not going to with us for much longer. Resistance is growing. The microbes have learnt how to defend themselves from attack. We will not have the benefits of them for much longer. Doctors have been told not to use them so much, reducing sales, and threatening pharmaceutical profits. So drug companies have no incentive to go on producing newer, more powerful antibiotics.

The failure of antibiotic drugs has been called 'the antibiotic apocalypse'. For conventional medicine it will indeed be apocalyptic. Our doctors have relied on them increasingly for the last 70 years and more. Yet antibiotic failure has been dominated by the discussion on drug resistance, even though it is only one part of their failure. The other, major part is the harm they cause to our health.

I will not cover all the illness and disease caused by antibiotic drugs. I have dealt with them more fully in this blog. In the main they concern children, and the health of our gut, and include obesity, diarrhoea, blood sugar levels and diabetes, asthma, eczema, heart disease, and a variety of 'new' disease like Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel.

Now, new research reported on the Natural Health website shows that the 'side effects' of antibiotics can be passed to the next generation. Canada's McMaster University has shown that taking antibiotic drugs during labour can negatively affect the gut health of newborn children. It found that giving mothers antibiotics whilst pregnant can delay the growth of healthy gut bacteria, the microbiota, for up to the first 12 weeks of life. As the researchers emphasise, early development of healthy microbiota is essential for lifetime health.

              “Early life microbial colonization and succession is critically important to healthy development, with impacts on metabolic and immunologic processes throughout life.”

This is not a time for anyone to panic, or to wonder what will happen when antibiotic drugs fail completely. It is a time to stop taking antibiotic drugs, and to move on to safer, more effective medical therapies.

People who use homeopathy to maintain and regain their health are subjected to neither the 'apocalypse' of resistance, nor their dangers to health of antibiotics. The failure of antibiotic drugs is a problem for conventional medicine only. Indeed, I have suggested that when antibiotics fail completely it may be a blessing in disguise. There are safer, more effective alternatives.

But don't expect the conventional medical establishment to tell you this soon. They will continue to ply their trade in dangerous pharmaceutical drugs for as long as they can, and for as long as they remain profitable. They have always done so.

Watch the Failure of Conventional Medicine in just a few minutes

Conventional medicine, based on pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines, if failing. Most of their drugs have been withdrawn or banned, most of those remaining either don't work or are harmful to patients or both, and they are so expensive they are bankrupting national health services throughout the developed world.

This is old news for readers of this blog. But now it is possible to watch conventional medicine failing in front of our eyes, in a video that takes just over 1 minute to play. The video can be found on this link.

           Stunning videos of evolution in action

     "What you’re seeing in the movie is a vivid depiction of a very real problem. Disease-causing bacteria and other microbes are increasingly evolving to resist our drugs; by 2050, these impervious infections could potentially kill ten million people a year. The problem of drug-resistant infections is terrifying but also abstract; by their nature, microbes are invisible to the naked eye, and the process by which they defy our drugs is even harder to visualise....... You’re seeing evolution in action. You’re watching living things facing down new challenges, dying, competing, thriving, invading, and adapting—all in a two-minute movie."

The root of the failure of conventional medicine lays in its methodology. It sets out to kill things, and to change the functioning of our body. Just look at the names given to pharmaceutical drugs.

• Pain KILLERS
• ANTI-depressants
• Beta-BLOCKERS
• Ace INHIBITORS
• Etc., etc.

The video show how the natural world fights back, how the common gut bacteria, E-Coli, is initially attacked, but then overcomes the ANTIbiotic drugs that are supposed to kill them. 

It is a video that highlights the problems faced by conventional medicine. E-Coli is just one bacteria amongst millions that can become a killer. And since the 1940's conventional medicine has been using ANTIbiotics to kill them. But it is now known that ANTIbiotics no longer work. Bacteria is fighting back. And conventional medicine is losing its most successful drug. As the article says, 

          "What you’re seeing in the movie is a vivid depiction of a very real problem. Disease-causing bacteria and other microbes are increasingly evolving to resist our drugs; by 2050, these impervious infections could potentially kill ten million people a year." 

For conventional medicine the problem of drug-resistant infections is becoming a terrifying prospect. They have nothing else to offer. When I tweeted this article earlier today it obtained a typical response (and the usual personal abuse) from several medical fundamentalists, that I am 'rejoicing' in this impending disaster! Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. My position can be summed up as follows:

• people need to know that conventional, drug-based medicine, is failing.
• everyone needs to realise that pharmaceutical drugs are vaccines are not the answer to illness and disease, and whatever the claims for ANTIbiotics and other drugs have been hitherto, they are failing, and pharmaceutical drug companies have no new 'solutions'.
• we need have this information so that we can all move away from conventional drug treatment, and move to medical therapies that actually do work, and which can help us live with, and amongst bacteria that are an important part of our existence.

We also need to realise that whilst there are claims that ANTIbiotics have saved lives in the past, the problem with them is not just that they will be able to do so in the future. Few people, for instance, are aware of the damage they have caused to our health during the last 70 years. ANTIbiotics have had a devastating affect on the health of our stomachs because they kill both 'good' and 'bad' bacteria (although in truth we can live in harmony with both). 

Professor Martin Blaser, of the New York University, in his research "Stop the killing of beneficial bacteria" said this.

          "Early evidence from my lab and others hints that, sometimes, our friendly flora never fully recover.. . These long-term changes to the beneficial bacteria within people's bodies may even increase our susceptibility to infections and disease. Overuse of antibiotics could be fueling the dramatic increase in conditions such as obesity, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies and asthma, which have more than doubled in many populations."

There is evidence that ANTIbiotics have caused a variety of diseases, all of them now running at epidemic proportions. These linked with the drug are:

• Obesity
• Diarrhoea
• Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD)
• Crohn's Disease
• Ulcerative Colitis
• NonHodgkins Lymphoma
• Liver damage
• Diabetes
• Asthma
• Eczema
• Heart disease
• HIV/AIDs
• Mental disorders

So the demise of ANTIbiotics will be no greater loss to human health than the demise of HRT, painKILLERS, ANTIdepressants, et al.

That is, they will not be a great loss as long as we realise, and we are told, that there are safer and more effective medical therapies available to us that will maintain our health from threats which are, in effect, only threats to those who continue to believe that conventional, drug-based medicine has any answers to ill-health.

The Failure of Antibiotic Drugs

The failure of antibiotic drugs becomes increasingly more apparent. Yet the reason for the failure remains obscure to most people.

• The conventional medical establishment knows there is a problem, but it is not interested in any explanation that suggests their whole system of medicine is collapsing, failing. 
• The NHS is predicting an apocalypse, but it is not interested in asking questions about the medicine it has allowed to monopolise medical services in Britain.
• The mainstream media is content to go along with this non-analysis. They ask no questions, there is no pretence of any kind of investigative journalism into the situation.

What we are being told that all the great advances of conventional medicine are being threatened, as they have never been before. But no-one, it seems, is curious enough to ask about what is happening, and why it is happening.

If we were to do so we would understand that what we are witnessing is the failure of a system of medicine we have all been led to believe has worked so effectively and well for the last 100 years.

Antibiotic drugs have, after all, been central to the alleged 'success' of conventional medicine. For decades they have killed the bacteria associated with infections, they have combated serious diseases that conventional doctors could not treat before their discovery, and they have made possible a whole series of life-saving surgical operations to deal with diseases at an advanced state. Without effective antibiotic drugs all this 'success' is at risk.

Now, only one antibiotic drug remains free of the resistance that is making all other antibiotics ineffective. The drug is called Colistin. And there are early signs that bacteria is now emerging that has become resistant, even to this last remaining antibiotic.

The reason for the failure of conventional medicine is contained within this single fact. The history of this single drug demonstrates, in minature, why the conventional medical system, as a whole, is failing.

Colistin is not a new drug. It was initially derived from a flask of fermenting bacteria by a Japanese researcher in 1949. It was first introduced as a drug in 1952, became generally available for clinical use in the early 1960s, and was thereafter extensively used for treating a variety of infections. However, it was gradually replaced in the late 1970s by other antibiotics because of its toxicity.

The toxicity of Colistin is something that the conventional medical establishment would rather we did not dwell upon - so let's do just that! This antibiotic drug was found to be nephrotoxic (it caused damage to the kidneys) and neurotoxic (it caused damage to the nervous system). Bronchospasm was also known to be caused by Colistin. Actually, these side effects are just the tip of a very large iceberg! To read about the full side effects of Colistin, which are extensive, go to the Drug.Co webpage.

Now, doctors have been telling us for decades that antibiotics are safe drugs. So it may come as a surprise to many reading this that antibiotic drugs should be described as 'toxic', and be withdrawn because of serious side effects. However, many antibiotics have suffered a similar fate. Antibiotic drugs have a history of causing damage to patients, many have had to been withdrawn, even though our doctors continue to tell us that antibiotic drugs are entirely safe!

They want us to believe that the problem with antibiotics is resistance, not serious side effects!

Yet the harm caused to patients by antibiotic drugs are many, varied and extremely serious. I have outlined these side effect on this website, currently under development. They are implicated in many diseases, most of them caused by the harm they do to our gut flora, diseases such as chronic diarrhoea, obesity, diabetes, irritable bowel disease, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Note that these are all diseases that have risen rapidly throughout the years of antibiotic use, and over-use'.  

Yet antibiotic drugs have also been implicated in other diseases too, such as liver damage, asthma, eczema, heart disease and mental disorders.

So to be clear, in order to treat bacterial infections, the conventional medical system has prescribed, and continues to prescribe, drugs that cause serious medical conditions. They call them side effects! They are really fully-fledged diseases. Pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines have made us sicker than ever before, with illnesses we have never experienced before, and certainly never experienced at such levels.

Yet conventional medicine not only refuse to tell us about the full enormity of the harm caused by their drugs, they are also prepared to reintroduce drugs they once thought to be too dangerous to give to patients! Collision was 'retired' when it was decided the side effects were too severe. Now, when they don't seem to have anything else left to give us, they return to a drug they know is harmful to our health. It still works, killing bacterial infections, and as it is the only one they now have, they give it to us - regardless of longer term consequences to our health.

Conventional medicine does not appear to care whether the drug might harm us!

Yet we need to go deeper into the failure of antibiotics. Just why has antibiotic resistance become such a problem?

Whatever illness conventional medicine tries to deal with, they view it as a fight, a battle, a state of warfare that needs to take place within the sick body. Antibiotic drugs are the very pinnacle of this war. Doctors see infection, and they seek to kill the bacteria that appears to be causing the infection. In fact, all 'anti-' drugs seek to kill something in our body, just as 'inhibitor' and 'blocker' drugs try to stop something happening in our body.

Unlike traditional medical therapies, such as homeopathy, conventional medicine has always failed to recognise that our body reacts to, and seeks to ward off illness and disease. Once upon a time they drained our very life-blood! Now they attack our bodies with drugs and vaccines. The conventional doctor knows best! They know better than our own bodies what to allow, what not to allow, and what to kill!

So what happens when this is done? The body fights back. Or, in the case of antibiotics, the bacteria fight back. If the drug fails to kill all the bacteria, they learn to resist, they become immune to the drugs. And in this particular war, the conventional doctor is losing, he is about to be defeated by his adversary. The bacteria is winning! Conventional medicine has failed!

So what does this mean for the patient? Our gut flora have for decades become a war-zone. It has been unbalanced by over 70 years of antibiotic warfare. The bacteria in our gut has been compromised to the extent that it has become unable to keep us healthy. The bacteria, the so-called superbugs, created by the very antibiotics that were supposed to destroy them, can now run amuck. To the victor, the spoils. MRSA and C-diff now rules! And there is nothing, now, the conventional medical system can do about it.

So what can patients do? The first thing is to recognise the failure of the conventional medical system, that the drug and vaccine warfare they have embarked upon ultimately leaves us defenceless as it attacks the only thing that can make us better - our bodies.

Second, they need to look to medical therapies that see the body as healer, not as protagonist. Therapies such as homeopathy, acupuncture, herbalism, reflexology, osteopathy, indeed most therapies apart from conventional medicine, all seek to work with, and alongside the body. They utilise and support the healing mechanisms that exist within our body.

And when we examine their value in treating infectious disease, therapies such as homeopathy has always been found to be more effective. And for those concerned about the demise of antibiotics, this is where you should be looking now.

Antibiotic drugs. The End of an Era? Long live the safer alternatives!

Antibiotic drugs have been the most magic of all magic bullets for the last 60 years, but we are rapidly approaching the end of that era. Even the conventional medical establishment, which has watched the failure and demise of so many of its wonder drugs, are concerned. They have accepted that there is a growing resistance to antibiotics, that they have few left that are effective, and that there are no new antibiotics in the pipeline.

However, this recognition only goes as far as resistance, which is explained to the public not as a 'failure', but to the overprescription of antibiotics over the years, especially to children.

The Dangers of antibiotics have been ignored, and remain largely unpublicised. Ask most people and they would still say that antibiotics cure diseases, and are entirely safe. They are not. Antibiotic drugs are indiscriminate killers of bacteria, including the 'good' bacteria that we need, particularly in our stomach to aid digestion, This has led to a serious decline in the health of our gut during the antibiotic era, because of the unbalance these drugs have caused having incorrectly blamed bacteria for too many health issues.

The use of antibiotics with very young children appears to create long-term health problems, which may not be surprising when it is recognised that they disrupt the gut flora of infants. They are associated with the growing obesity epidemic. They are known to cause serious diarrhoea. They have been linked with Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD), Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. The overuse of antibiotics, particularly during childhood, has been linked to Non-Hodgkin s Lymphoma, and to serious liver damage. They are linked to blood sugar levels and diabetes, to asthma and eczema, to heart disease, to HIV/AIDs, and even to some mental disorders.

So the failure of antibiotics drugs will not be an unmitigated disaster. Once the conventional medical establishment cannot use them anymore we will probably witness a dramatic decrease in some of the chronic diseases that are now increasing, and have reached epidemic proportions.

Yet the public debate about the replacement of antibiotics focuses almost exclusive on what conventional medicine, and in particular the pharmaceutical industry, can come up with - as if anything they have ever given us, over the last 100 years and more, has ever been safe! Conventional medicine will continue to make the same mistake that it always makes - mistaking the bacteria present within an infection as the cause of the infection, and not the bodies response to the infection.

As Pasteur knew well the microorganisms present in infections were "more an effect than a cause of disease." He understood that infectious disease did not simply have a single cause, but was the result of a complex web of interactions, both within and outside the body.

So the answer to the failure of antibiotic drugs, and their replacement with something safer, will come from another quarter.

We will have to look towards more traditional medical therapies, to herbalism and homeopathy, and other therapies that work with the body, and does not seek to fight it. We will have to look towards some of the plants and substances we have known about, and used, for centuries, such as:

• Garlic
• Coconut oil
• Oregano essential oil
• Grapefruit seed extract
• Pomegranates
• Echinasia
• Andrographis
• Eleutherococcus senticosus
• Berberine
• and to dietary supplements, such as Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Zinc and Probiotics.

And in particular, we will have to look towards homeopathy, which has used a variety of remedies for a variety of infections for over 220 years, remedies that are known to treat infection safely and effectively.

Throat infections
Homeopathy can ofter many remedies for throat infections, including Belladonna, Baryta Carb, Lachesis, Lycopodium, Phytolacca, Spigelia and Mercurius

Skin infections:
Calendula and Hypericum tincture is often used for bacterial skin infections, and the healing of cuts and grazes. Silica and Hepar Sulph are two remedies often used for boils and cysts.

Bladder infections
The most important homeopathic remedies for the treatment of bladder infections, such as cystitis, are Hydrastis, Berberis, Staphysagria, Cantharis, Apis, and Sarsaparilla, but there are many more, used according to individual symptoms.

Sinus infections
Homeopathic remedies frequently used for sinus infections including Kali bich, Pulsatilla, Mercurius, Nat Mur, and Allium Cepa, but again, there are many other remedies, given according to individual symptoms.

There are many different types of infection, ear infections, conjunctivitis, cystitis, gonorrhoea, that I have dealt with on my 'Why Homeopathy?' website.

So, infections may soon be untreatable with antibiotic drugs, but this does not matter, there is no need for panic. 

There are safer, more effective therapies, readily available for the treatment of infections. What has to happen is for people to recognise that conventional, drug and vaccine based medicine, is failing, and then to actively look for the alternative therapies that not only work, but also do not require us to risk contracting the kind of diseases that are the known side-effects of antibiotics.

Antibiotic resistance. A problem only for conventional medicine?

We have been told for several years now that antibiotic drug are failing because of microbial resistance. It is usually presented to us as a tragedy that will lead to mayhem, with people dying in large numbers from diseases once treated with antibiotics. The BBC has returned to the theme this morning (19th November 2015) in its news broadcasts, and its article "World on cusp of 'post-antibiotic era', focusing on the news that bacteria has been identified in China, in both people and livestock, that is "able to shrug off the drug of last resort - collision".

A few corrections are necessary to this, and the way the mainstream media generally, deals with the situation.

First, let's correct the quoted passage above, which should read "able to shrug off the conventional drug of last resort".

I will now go through the BBC article, and make corrects to each of their sentences, my additions being done in bold and larger print.

          "They said that resistance would spread around the world and raised the spectre of .... infections that are untreatable by conventional medicine".

          "Bacteria becoming completely resistant to conventional treatment - also known as the antibiotic apocalypse - could plunge conventional medicine back into the dark ages".

One doctor is quoted with both the comments below, and again, I have corrected what he has said, for the sake of accuracy.

          "At that point if a patient is seriously ill, say with E. coli, then there is virtually nothing you (conventional medicine) can do."

          "He said there was no single event that would mark the start of the antibiotic apocalypse, but it was clear "we (conventional medicine) are losing the battle".

The BBC then quotes the Lancet, as follows, with the usual correction inserted.

          "A commentary in the Lancet concluded the "implications [of this study] are enormous" and unless something significant changes, conventional doctors would "face increasing numbers of patients for whom we will need to say, 'Sorry, there is nothing I (conventional medicine) can do to cure your infection.'"

Homeopathy has never used antibiotics in order to treat any of the conditions, illness or disease. It does not need to. I have written about the crisis of pharmaceutical antibiotics on several occasions.

Parents call for ban on family of antibiotics
Antibiotics - not such a wonder drug?
Antibiotics - the failure of conventional medicine's wonder drug?
Antibiotics - not as safe as we have been told?

What the mainstream media, including the BBC, should begin to recognise it is the crisis largely confined to conventional drug-based medicine, the only type of medicine they will consider or talk about!

Perhaps it is time for the conventional medical establishment to stop attacking homeopathy, and ask how homeopathy can help them through this crisis.