One in six infections transmitted during surgery in wealthy countries such as UK are now resistant to antibiotics according to recent research by Edinburgh, Warwick and Birmingham universities as reported in the media this week. This is NOT good news, is it?
Antibiotics are routinely given before operations to kill bacteria and protect patients from disease. But their overuse has meant many germs have evolved to resist the drugs, with some dangerous bacteria strains becoming completely untreatable. The NHS-funded study involved 12,539 patients in 66 countries. In poor countries the problem was even worse with antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in 36% of infections.
Now clearly I can see the reasoning for trying to avoid a patient going through surgery getting an infection, but there has to be a better way, doesn’t there, than giving ‘just-in-case’ doses? I don’t know what the answer is, of course, and feel for doctors put in that situation, but you can bet other research is looking into alternatives and I look forward to seeing it.
It did remind me, though, to make sure you know what alternatives there are out there for antibiotics so that we, personally, can stem the tide a little bit, hopefully leaving antibiotics for when they are crucially needed.
Check out my Infections factsheet here. I have included tons of info on various infection types, how you might detect them and what you might use from the natural armoury, which is extensive, trust me. Just last week, I reduced that awful cough/cold lurgy thing that everyone is taking weeks to shift to 4 days by inhaling eucalyptus citriodora (a lemony type which I just love) every few hours religiously. I also massaged it (in oil base) into my throat area and rubbed teatree around my throat and sinus glands. Things do work, if you use them.
You talk about “inhaling eucalyptus citriodora” for cough/cold etc but dont explain how you used it which would be really helpful – did you steam inhale this or nebulise it? If so please explain the process. If steam inhaled how many drops of EC in water approx to ease congestion and kill off viruses? If nebulised how many drops in a 5ml inhaler with how much water? Response much appreciated ANN
Well, truthfully, most often I inhaled it from the bottle whenever I was passing it! Sometimes I put one drop in the palm of my hand, then rubbed my hands together, cupped my nose and inhaled deeply three times. I also had some on a tissue in my pocket. If using it to massage my throat, I put a small amount of olive oil in the palm of my hand and added one drop to it, mixed with my finger and massaged it in. Nothing too scientific, Ann!