Is There a connection between Antibiotics and Modern Illness?

We’ve all run to the doctors from time to time when we’ve not felt well. Often times we end up leaving the doctor‘s office with a prescription for an antibiotic. Antibiotics have had there place in health care and still do. But that is not the reason for this article.

It is the excessive use of antibiotics and the possible connection to escalating illness in the US and throughout the world that we want to spotlight here.

Antibiotics are indiscriminant killers of bacteria. Not only do they kill undesired organisms but the beneficial bacteria that live in the intestines as well. This imbalance of organisms leads to a disruption of digestion and decreases our ability to absorb foods properly. Once this imbalance has occurred we are also more vulnerable to viruses, infections, yeasts, and fungi.

These unfriendly organisms rapidly repopulate the gastrointestinal tract and wreak havoc, causing additional infections that can occur in almost any region or organ of your body.

Antibiotic resistance is becoming a major concern and is increasing worldwide. Here in the US we take an estimated 133 million antibiotic prescriptions per year, according to the government accounting office. A full ½ of these prescriptions are not needed according to current estimates. Many of these are given to fight viral infections.

Antibiotics given for viral infections such as the common cold, upper respiratory tract infection and bronchitis, are pointless. Why? Because antibiotics do not kill viral infections. But wait you say… my physician prescribed these to me. Yes, some physicians still prescribe antibiotics to treat viral infections. Often, just to satisfy the patient and not let him leave empty handed. But this practice does not aid the patient. Furthermore, it has most likely harmed the immune system by killing off numbers of the good guys that keep our immune systems in check.

Other ways we increase this resistance is by taking only a portion of prescription. So, if you are given an antibiotic (for a bacterial infection) be sure to finish it.

Although antibiotic use in humans is the biggest contributor of antibiotic resistance, it has been reported that 70% of the antibiotics produced in the USA each year are fed to our livestock (pigs, chickens, and cattle). This information is cause for further concern.

There has been a rapid increase in allergies and asthma in the Westernized countries which correlate with the use of antibiotics. There are those (such as Doug Kaufmann, author of “The Fungus Link”) who believe that there is a direct connection between the increased use of antibiotics and the rise in auto immune diseases.

Quote:
"Antibiotics... may be the single greatest cause of candidiasis." ~ Murray Susser, M.D.