Of Pigs, Chickens, People, and Superbugs

I was curious to read Miguel's comment (on my Feb. 4 "From Nuts to Subversives" posting) that pigs are a major source of drug-resistant bacteria known as MRSA.

I had just read an article in the Financial Times last week about MRSA, but that publication focused on MRSA in hospitals, and didn’t make mention of the pig source. It seems that significant numbers of people are contracting this superbug when they are admitted to hospitals, ostensibly to get better.

Not surprisingly, the article’s main concern is whether and how pharmaceutical companies might be able to come up with new antibiotics to fight the so-called “superbug” that MRSA represents.

The financial interests tend not to care much about the source of the problem or its natural interrelationships, but mainly whether there is money to be made in a solution to the problem. Hence, the Financial Times’ emphasis.

But the Financial Times is not optimistic about whether Big Pharma can easily solve this problem. “The challenge in fighting bacteria with new drugs is that all the most promising avenues of development have been pursued, leaving today’s researchers with a much harder task.” And “much harder” tends to translate into “less profitable.”

MRSA illustrates the pickle we’ve gotten ourselves into via over-use of antibiotics, both among humans and animals. I learned of a vivid illustration recently in a discussion with a chicken farmer He recalled how he had, a few years back, obtained his first chickens, and realized he didn’t have feed for them.

He wanted to raise them naturally, but could only find at the local feed stores feed that contained antibiotics mixed in. Since he had to feed the chickens, he figured he’d give them the medicated stuff until he could find a med-free source. When he finally obtained his med-free feed, he gradually transitioned the chickens to the new feed, not knowing how they’d react to suddenly going off antibiotics. The results were breathtaking: he lost 25% of his chickens to disease from their compromised immune systems.

So as Miguel notes, people are now contracting MRSA from pigs, and spreading it around. I have a feeling that all doctors will be able to do is hold their patients' hands for this unfolding episode.

Comments

[Linda Diane Feldt]

I have a copy on my web site of the conference proceedings from the University of Michigan Medical School ocnference where I presented a paper "Case Study: Prophylactic Use of Echinacea angustifolia and purpurea Tincture for Management of a Recurrent Staphylococcus Infection"

http://www.holisticwisdom.org/hwpages/echinacea.html

This simple herb, in tincture form, is a very interesting possible alternative to work with antibiotic resistant bacteria and the interesting thing about this case is the very low dose that was used.

So yes, let's deal with the sources of the problem, but I also feel an obligation to spread the news that there is hope from the berbal perspective. And again -- cheap, easy, non toxic.

[Rick Trim]

I know this is a little off topic, but what are your thoughts on the State of Texas forceing little girls to be vaccinated for HVP? I have heard that the move is spreading to other states like wildfire.

[Steve Bemis]

Wise Traditions (the Weston A PRice Foundation quarterly magazine) had a good article on the HVP vaccination situation. First of all, the link of the virus to the disease is not certain. Second, the vaccine has substantial problems. But it looks like a $2B bonanza for Merck.

[miguel]

Linda Diane Feldt,
How should we treat a combined attack of influenza and staph aureus?

http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=091706_flu_staph.htm


This is something that has recently killed the mother of a friend.

[Linda Diane Feldt]

Miguel,
I am sorry for your friend's loss. I don't know if the ideas in my paper on Echinacea would have helped. I have a strong sense that we know too little about co-factors that create a different and more devesating response, especially with viruses. Using herbs that are strong anti-virals (and there are so many of them) may help the body in significant ways to be then be able to handle a combined viral/bacterial invasion. It is a theory, many of my holistic peers are taking it seriously, the bottom line is it seems to work in some really tough cases.

Already having a strong healthy gut with lots of healthy flora is a significant defense. Homeopathics can most specifically address symptoms that change by the hour or even more frequently, and that are complex or confounding. I always prefer if I know the person well enough in advance to already know the herbs they personally respond to. That saves time and you're less likely to try things that won't work.

I also have little hesitation in combining herbs with conventional medicine especially in severe cases when you need a rapid response and you don't know what will work. You just have to know enough about how the herb works to ensure you're not working at cross purposes with the drugs.

Personally, I keep many herbs handy -- home made tinctures of echinacea, St. John's Wort, burdock, and others. Ginger in the freezer. Yogurt fresh and if I run out, frozen. Miso and kim chi and other fermented foods. An array of homeopathic remedies (about 40) and the book "Everyone's Guide to Homeopathic Remedies" (my favorite guide).

Normally one or the other would show first -- influenza or staph -- and you deal with it right away. If they come together and suddenly, it indicates a more significant underlying problem and I would work with the best practiitoners/diagnosticians I could find from both conventional and unconventional traditions. There is something really wrong, and unique to that individual that you have to discover and quickly try to resolve.

Hope that helps - at least a bit of how I think of things.

[miguel]

Thank you LDF we are taking your advice In my research I have learned that the one tactic that helps these superbugs to survive is their increased rate of reproduction.By treating them with one antibiotic after another,we are selecting for bacteria that can manage to reproduce themselves before the antibiotic takes effect.They also have developed a toxin that kills white blood cells which would attack them. The frightening thing about these superbugs is that they are quick to overwhelm a persons immune system.Like e-coli 0157H7,using antibiotics against these bacteria only helps them to grow faster by wiping out the beneficial bactera that are competeing with them.I wish that hospitals would stop making this mistake over and over again.

[Linda Diane Feldt]

In the midst of posting all this, I got a serious infection on my right thumb. So I've been watching it and contemplating it and considering what is happening and how I want to support it. I haven't had an infection this severe in about 20 years. 20 years ago I had the bizarre experience of an infected mole that had started to streak (bad bad sign) disapear completely right after an intense therapy session. That was nearly unbelievable.
Well, this is a slow meandering thing that hasn't gone systemic. But it is lovely to watch how strongly my body has responded, and after three days - today I'm over the hump - it is draining and decreasing in size and pain. No antibiotics, some topical echinacea tincture, epsom salt soaks to relieve the pain. I think one of the strongest signs of my health is that it stayed localized the whole time. No lymphatic swelling, no pain elsewhere, just very localized and pretty severe (painful) swelling within 1/2 inch of the infected point.
I had a good friend who ended up with a ruptured appendix. He was in and out of the ER trying to get it diagnosed, and no one could figure it out. I said just keep taking Echinacea, whatever it is. So he did the whole 2-3 dyas it took before the MDs figured it out and rushed him into emergency surgery. They were pretty grim going in, but the whole thing was horribly infected and also totally encapsulated. No problems at all with surrounding tisue and organs.
We always wondered if the echinacea may have helped keep it all in one place.
I should have dipped the wole thing in raw milk and then reported to you all - or better yet infected both thumbs and used the other as a control. Oh well.