Judicious Use of Antimicrobials

Most of us erroneously think that taking an antibiotic or, for that matter, any antimicrobial, on a continuous basis is a wonderful idea, if we want to get rid of an infection. Alas, we equally need a good immunity to do so. We do not need a continuous infusion in antimicrobial chemotherapy. Rather an intermittent infusion(interrupted and spaced-out infusions), a bolus injection or an oral administration of a drug may be all that is needed.

The reasons for this are quite simple:

The immune system is usually disrupted and weakened by currently available antimicrobial drugs, due to their toxicity to the immune cells. Immune cells need to proliferate(grow) when they encounter intruder microbes(germs) so as to kill them and antibiotics do no help this, in any way, since they(the antibiotics) kill and will not promote growth. So, continuous infusion, though theoretically the ideal approach to kill a germ, in practice, is undesirable, as it does not allow immune cells to recover adequately from the insult, equally inflicted on them by these chemical agents. An intermittent dosing is, therefore, the preferred approach used in chemotherapy, since it gives room for such immune cell recovery.

The continuous presence of an antibiotic(especially at lower doses) leads to adaptations on the part of the germ meant to be killed by the chemical agent, since such doses will not kill. This is a universal, natural, survival mechanism, and, in this case, is referred to as drug resistance. The selection for those germs that will not respond to the 'kill' is what is responsible for most failures of antimicrobial therapy.

A similar adaptation and selection process for our immune system operates. The continuous presence of a microbe in our environment (our body) confers immunity(makes our body to adapt and kill it...our own adaptation). A weaker immune response to the microbes, from nutritional deficiencies, for example, will lead to the survival of germs in our body(...microbial adaptation) and this is responsible for most chronic persistent infections

A wrong approach to antibiotic dosing and poor nutrition will lead to both antibiotic resistance and 'immune' resistance. The combination of the two will be catastrophic for any disease management.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso, M.D.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Natural Way to Lose Weight and Keep It Off

Most people express the frustration of straining to lose weight only to gain it back in a twinkle of an eye. This is because most weight loss programs are strenuous and not natural. Going to the gym is not always much fun and although you may enjoy playing tennis everyday this may not always be a practical way to lose weight, given that you may have to work on a daily basis to earn a living. If your job involves standing and talking then you may not only have the benefit of earning an income but also an opportunity to lose weight, for close to eight hours. You are more than twice able to spend calories standing than sitting. You are even luckier if your job involves body movement, since physical exercise is the best way to lose weight. If you are overweight, it is advisable to begin any exercise program slowly and build up with time. Although endurance exercise like jogging, may help you lose weight fastest, you will only keep it off if you refrain from lavishly rewarding yourself ...
Read more

How Much of Stress Do We Need?

The G1 phase of the cell cycle determines if a cell is to differentiate or not. During this phase, the cell develops protuberances(cilia) which sense the environment, effect movement and  in turn stimulate autophagy(nerve and muscle cells are much elongated from these protuberances). Levels of Nrf2, which lower levels of free radicals, fall in this pro-differentiation state. The longer the G1 the more likely the switch to differentiation from cell cycling. When there is transient fall in energy resources or growth factors, there will be less proliferation and more pro-differentiation, and when those resources later become available, more pronounced differentiation will take place. Transient spike in psychological, physical or nutritional stress will cause the engagement of the 5-phosphate pentose pathway that yields the anti-oxidant NADPH, and as well produces intermediates for protein synthesis. This promotes cellular prolif...
Read more

Fitness and Holistic Health

The body has a way of matching activity and immunity to metabolism. This is brought about through the circadian rythm. Driven by cortisol and entrained by sunlight and physical routine, this is a natural rhythm that is entrenched to all biological systems. It is governed by the major biological clock proteins  as well as organ-specific clock proteins and their negative feed-back inhibitions, which organ-specific clock proteins are different for different organs, and hence we have different times at which different organs' metabolic activities and functions peak. The clock proteins affect metabolism at the level of transcription in the nucleus. The body has to manage the limited energy resources carefully so that each organ's and system's needs are adequately catered to. To do this, different tissues have optimal functional activities at different times. However, the circadian rhythm is usually reprogramed when life-threatening and stressful contingencies avail, such as c...
Read more