No antibiotics for the flu

Doctors prescribe antibiotics for the flu - and a whole lot of other viral infections - even though they know that such drugs are absolutely ineffective against viruses.

And of course, patients obediently take these drugs. Or worse still, they take some of it but do not obediently complete the prescribed course of medication.

Such practices are not only useless. They are also extremely harmful - for they weaken the patient's immune system at a time when the patient needs all the immune strength available to fight a disease.

Yet the harm does not stop there. More seriously, the overuse of such drugs has led to the the development of drug resistant "superbugs", some of which have become virtually impossible to destroy.

Bacteria and viruses

The most important thing to know about these powerful drugs is that they are primarily effective against bacteria. They may also be effective against certain fungi and parasites. But, bacteria and viruses are very different from each other. And drugs designed to kill bacteria are totally ineffective against viruses.

It is crucial to know, therefore, which are the diseases linked to bacteria and which are linked to viruses:

Diseases linked to bacteria		Diseases linked to viruses
some ear infections		most ear infections
Strep throat		colds and the flu
Severe sinus infections		most coughs
Uninary tract infection		bronchitis
Most types of pneumonia		most sore throats
Most skin infections / wounds		stomach flu (viral gastroenteritis)

Pause for a while to think back... how many times have you consulted a doctor for colds and the flu, coughs and sore throats - and been given antibiotics? For many people, it could be as high as 100 percent of the time!

Why do doctors do this?

If you ask them, they might blame their patients, saying they insist on it and that if a doctor does not prescribe the drugs, patients would simply go to another doctor who does. But where do patients get the idea that they need such drugs in the first place? If not from doctors and the medical profession, from where did patients get the mistaken idea that such drugs can cure almost everything?

The way I see it, doctors prescribe these powerful drugs for a few reasons (or lack of reasons):

1. They do it unthinkingly - because antibiotics have always been regarded as "the first line of defence" against infectious diseases and, over the years, it became an automatic response to prescribe these drugs.
2. They do it as a form of "preventive medicine" just in case the cold, flu, cough or sore throat leads to a bacteria infection later on.

Such practices are highly irresponsible. They weaken patients - and expose them to the risks of harmful side effects - at a time when they are ill and need all the immune strength they have to fight disease.

The rise of drug-resistant superbugs

Penicillin, was introduced in the 1940s. Since then, scientists have developed more than 150 antibiotics, many of which are a lot more powerful than peniillin. Despite the so-called advances in medical technology, doctors are losing the battle against bacteria as more and more bacteria become drug-resistant.

Whose fault is this? Again, patients get blamed for not completing their prescribed course of the drugs. It is said that when patients do not take all the medicines given to them, the strongest bacteria survive and these eventually evolve into drug-resistant "superbugs". Yet this is only part of the explanation. The main reason is that doctors had been carelessly prescribing these drugs for decades!

Another major reason. one that is seldom mentioned, is that almost everybody is taking very tiny doses of antibiotics every day - when they eat meat! Most of these drugs - more than 90 percent - are actually consumed by farm animals. These animals are kept in cramped conditions whereby if one of them falls ill, tens or hundreds of thousands will very quickly get infected. So they are given the drugs on a daily basis, and small traces remain in the meat that humans eat.

What can you do?

The usual advice, given by the medical profession, is as follows:

1. Understand when antibiotics should and should not be used and don't pressure your doctor to give you the drugs when you don't need them, or when they cannot help you.
2. Take the drugs exactly as prescribed - how many pills, how many times a day. Follow your doctor's instructions exactly and make sure you finish taking all the pills given to you.
3. Never take antibiotics without a prescription and never take leftover medicines from your previous illness.

My advice, from the perspective of natural health, is simply this: DON'T TAKE ANTIBIOTICS.

Now, doctors - as well as dentists - will say that such advice is "irresponsible". They will warn that, if you don't take their drugs, you will die!

Well, I have not taken a single dose of antibiotics - and not a single pain killer like paracetamol, or antihistimine, cough mixture or any other prescription drugs - ever since I discovered natural health in 1985. I am still alive. And I plan to continue living for many more years.

It is not that I had never fallen ill during the past 24 years. Because my basic health is poor, because I had taken lots of antibiotics and other drugs until I was 30 years old and because sometimes I don't rest enough, I have my fair share of the flu and other illnesses.

What I do is that when I am mildly ill, I rest and treat myself with natural antibiotics like garlic or umeboshi. When I am more seriously ill, I would seek traditional Chinese medicine or some other form of natural healthcare.