Herbal antibiotic alternatives

New Life Journal, August-Sept, 2004 by Ceara Foley

Humans exist in symbiosis with bacteria living all around and inside us. Children migrate towards bacteria. They are inherently fond of the same things bacteria treasure, things like bread, cheese, soil, and sticky fingers. The occasional ingestion of bacteria boosts a child's acquired immunity. Antibiotics have been rightfully deemed "miracle drugs" because of the countless lives they have saved from potentially lethal infections such as meningitis. Yet the word "antibiotic" means "against life." These powerful drugs kill bacteria in the body. Our society has initiated a foolhardy war on bacteria, forgetting that bacteria support life more regularly than they do harm.

Hundreds of beneficial types of bacteria live in our bodies, helping to protect against the harmful ones. While antibiotics are effective in killing bad bacteria, they also kill the good bacteria, an important part of our immune system, lining the digestive, respiratory, and urinary tracts. Without protection from friendly bacteria, disease-causing agents more readily take hold.

Antibiotic use often causes yeast overgrowth, as seen in babies that present thrush after treatment. Yeast overgrowth further weakens the immune system. The prophylactic prescription of antibiotics is a major contributing factor to chronic health conditions. David Bell, antimicrobial resistance coordinator for the CDC, clarifies one reason for this: "The overuse of antibiotics is the driving force for bacteria to become resistant." Antibiotic resistance occurs when the antibiotic is effective in killing some of the bacteria, but the ones that survive breed more of this stronger type and mutate to become resistant to the antibiotic should they meet it again.

Antibiotic use can also lead non-disease causing bacteria to mutate into more pernicious strains and become disease causing. Often, a vicious cycle is created of taking antibiotics and breeding new and more resistant strains of bacteria while the immune system becomes increasingly degraded. Drug-resistant bacterial infections affect nearly two million Americans. "If you've had antibiotics recently, you are three to nine times more likely to have a resistant infection than someone who has not had an antibiotic." Bell explains. Yet US doctors prescribe around twice as many antibiotics as English doctors and four times as many as those in Germany, often for ailments such as the common cold or a sore throat. Antibiotics are ineffective in killing viruses; still, in 1992, American doctors wrote twelve million antibiotic prescriptions for respiratory infections, a category of illnesses Usually caused by viruses. A staggering ninety percent of all antibiotics prescribed in the US are either prescribed inappropriately or used inappropriately by the patients. This overuse is largely due to the American desire for quick results that ensure our daily routine is interrupted as little as possible. Antibiotics are strong and operate fast. This "quick fix" mentality is especially harmful to our children. Some day care centers have seen the number of children infected with penicillin-resistant strep as high as twenty-nine percent. Overprescription occurs most often between age one and six, when ear infections are common.

Herbal treatments are very effective in treating bacterial and other common childhood infections. (Please consult an herbalist for age/condition-appropriate dosing). Several herbs such as garlic, goldenseal, myrrh, usnea, and uva ursi have antibiotic effects. The difference between an antibiotic drug and an antibiotic herb is that the drug is an isolated constituent limited to the power of that one chemical, whereas the herb contains several constituents with a variety of healing properties, producing a synergistic effect.

The herb can actually kill only the bad bacteria while not harming the good; the drug does not have the wisdom to differentiate. Furthermore, most bacteria are not fooled by all isolated compound; Often the drug becomes ineffective or the cells mutate eventually to become resistant to the drug. The organic herb is nature's match for the bacteria.

Care for your child first by using prevention. I believe it was Edison who eloquently conveyed, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Herbs are wonderful allies for boosting the immune system. Focus on boosting your child's immunity before they go back to school, where contagions are readily spread, Fresh garlic is an antibiotic, antibacterial, antifungal immune stimulant. Add it to foods to prevent illness. A lemonade with garlic, ginger, and honey nips colds, flus, and respiratory ailments in the bud before they have a chance to become infectious. Odd as it may sound, this is a drink so yummy most children will fake a flu to get it! Immune boosting herbs that make "tasty additions to soups are astragalus, codonopsis, burdock root, nettles, medicinal mushrooms, and seaweeds. It is increasingly important to incorporate these healing foods into the child's diet during the change of seasons, when the immune system is most vulnerable.