‘Nightmare Bacteria’ Reveals Need for Natural Medicine

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The “last resort” antibiotics known as Carbapenems are in a class of β-lactam antibiotics which target the beta-lactamase enzymes produced by some pathogenic bacteria, and were originally developed from thienamycin, a naturally derived product of Steptomyces cattleya. So, the inspiration behind it, like for most other classes of pharmaceuticals in existence today, was Nature. But, Nature equips her creations equally with defenses in the ongoing struggle for balance among species. Bacteria are increasingly resistant to Carbapenems and its beta-lactamase enzyme inhibitor mechanism of action by producing an enzyme known as mettalo-beta-lactamase-1 (NDM-1). NDM-1 makes these bacteria resistant to this class of antibiotics and since bacteria are capable of transferring useful genes horizontally, the NDM-1 Carbapenem “resistance gene” is spreading widely. Since NDM-1’s first discovery in a Swedish patient of Indian origin in 2008, it has been detected throughout the world in countries such as Pakistan, India, Japan, Brazil, and the UK, US and Canada.

The CDC, and the conventional drug-based medical establishment it represents, is learning that chemical warfare against “germs” has its limitations. In fact, this approach is actually creatingeven stronger, more resistant bacteria. MRSA, for instance, that terrible bogeyman of an infection, is an acronym for Methicillin-Resistant Staphyloccous Aeurus. It actually emerged within the context of the overuse of methicillin and other penicillin-type antibiotics; meaning, it exists not despite of antibiotics, but because of them. Bacteria are far more resilient than multicellular organisms such as us.

Many strains have actually evolved capabilities that we do not have, such as degrading pesticides and chemicals like BPA for us. In fact, some have even developed ways to use deadly radioactive waste (uranium-238) as an energy source! When we expose ourselves to chemotherapy (yes, antibiotics are chemical therapies), the subpopulation within that bacterial colony that are resistant to these chemicals actually thrive, as competing organisms have been destroyed.

Even when you kill 99% of an inflection, 1% develops resistance, produces biofilm, and now becomes several orders of magnitude more resistant to the original chemical. With time it will come back with a vengeance, assuming the predisposing factors associated with infectious disease susceptibility, e.g. nutrition, chemical exposures, stress, have not been rectified. Also, the chemicals themselves produce selective pressure upon the bacterial colonies, generating new strains of bacteria capable of overcoming chemical annihilation by expressing multidrug resistance genes.

The end result? Massive collateral damage: destruction of our largely probiotic-mediated innate and adaptive immune response to infection, chemical poisoning of the host, and the production of “super germs” within the bioreactor of the human alimentary canal. This is very similar to what happens with chemotherapy/radiotherapy cancer resistance, cancer expressing genes and behaviors that are pre-metazoan in quality, not unlike bacteria and bacterial colonies [see Paul Davies, Charles Lineweaver’s Metazoa 1.0: taping the genes of ancient ancestors].

Drug-Based Medicine Humbly Bows to the Earth

Widespread drug resistance marks the end of a certain type of cavalier, medical hubris, and the start of authentic humility within the medical culture. Not only is the conventional medical establishment throwing up their hands in surrender against the “simplest” of organisms – germs – but they are being forced to return to Nature for instruction.

The word humility comes from the word humus, or “earth,” and indeed, it is the earth which teaches us how to maintain our health. Take a recent study published in the Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology titled, Anti-inflammatory and anti-superbacterial activity of polyphenols isolated from black raspberry, which found that the root of the black raspberry plant contains polyphenols which are lethal to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB), and Bacillus anthracis (Anthrax). The black raspberry fruit did not exhibit these properties.

Why the root and not the fruit? The reason is that plants have actually designed their fruits to be eaten by specific species, and therefore are not as well armed against the same microbial threat that we humans also face interacting with the wild environment. Roots, on the other hand, are designed to enter directly into the soil, and derive nutrients directly through rhizomal interaction, which requires both a certain degree of permeability, and therefore extra chemical defenses. We discovered a similar process in the production of the defensive lectin compound in wheat known as wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) within the root tip and leaf tip of the sprouting wheat berry. WGA also has antibacterial, antifungal, anti-mammal, and yes, anti-animal/human properties as well.

So, if the humble raspberry plant can produce antibacterial compounds capable of killing carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter, could it also kill the CDC’s nightmare pathogen, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae? Since both bacteria are members of the class Gammaproteobacteria in the phylum Proteobacteria, it is definitely possible.

How many other natural, plant compounds are capable of this seemingly impossible feat of killing drug- and multi-drug resistant infections? The research on MRSA is encouraging. At GreenMedInfo.com we have indexed 49 natural compounds thus far with experimentally confirmed anti-MRSA properties, listed in alphabetical order below:

• Allicin (Garlic compound)
• Baicalein (Chinese Skullcap compound)
• Banana (Peel extract)
• Bay leaf
• Bee propolis
• Bifidobacterium breve (A probiotic)
• Catechin (antioxidant found in Acacia catechu and tea)
• Catnip
• Cinnamaldehyde (Cinnamon oil compound)
• Clove
• Cumin
• Curcumin (Primary polyphenol in Turmeric)
• EGCG (Polyphenol in tea)
• Elecampane
• Epicatechin (Polyphenol in tea)
• Eucalyptus
• Geranium
• Grapeseed Extract
• Grapefruit Seed Extract
• Honey (Ulmo)
• Kaempferol
• Lactobacillus paracasei (bacteriocin)
• Lavender
• Lemongrass
• Mango Seed
• Mangosteen
• Manuka Honey
• Nigella sativa (black seed)
• Norway spruce
• Olive leaf extract
• Tabebuia
• Peppermint
• Prickly Ash
• Resins
• Sage
• Sandalwood
• Silver (nanoparticles)
• Tea Tree
• Thyme

You can view all of these study abstracts without registering at GreenMedInfo.com’s MRSA research page.

Other examples of so-called “nightmare” bacteria, which natural compounds have been found to kill, include:

• Multi-drug Resistant Tuberculosis (billed by the media as “The White Plague”): A 2011 study found that garlic has is able to kill this particularly resilient mycobacteria.[i]
• Drug-resistant Urinary Tract Infections: A 2005 study found that grapefruit seeds were capable of reversing multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aerginosa urinary infection after two weeks of treatment in a male patient.[ii] Cranberry also appears to reduce the risk of urinary tract infections by inhibiting the biofilm formation typical of antibiotic resistant uropathogenic bacteria colonies.[iii]
• Drug-resistant Infected Nipple (Lactation): A 2010 study found that probiotics strains from breast milk are superior to antibiotics in the treatment of infectious mastitis.[iv]
• Drug-resistant Helicobacter pylori: A 2002 study found that the organosulfor compound in Cruciferous vegetables inhibits extracellular, intracellular and antibiotic-resistant strains of H. pylori, as well as preventing petrochemically-induced stomach tumors.[v]
• Multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa: A 2009 study found that pomegranate rind extract has antimicrobial activity against multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa.[vi] Water soluble green tea has also been found to have significant inhibitory activity against multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa.[vii]
• Multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii: A 2009 study found that fennel essential oil extracts had antimicrobial activity against multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii.[viii]
• Multi-drug resistant Streptococcus mutans (oral pathogen): A 2007 study found that garlic inhibits multi-drug resistant Streptococcus mutans, a bacteria known to be a major contributor to dental caries.[ix]
• Multi-drug resistant Vibro cholera (cholera): A 2007 study found that Guava leaf extract and bark had activity against multi-drug resistant Vibrio cholera, the organism responsible for cholera outbreaks.[x]
• Multi-drug E.Coli, Klebsiella and Candida albicans: A 2009 study found that Arabic tree, Cinnamon and Clove extract has antimicrobial activity against multi-drug resistant strains of E. Coli, Klebsiella and Candida albicans (yeast). [xi]
• Drug-resistant Mycobacterium avium: A 2003 study found that the exceptionally difficult to treat Mycobacterium avium was inhibited with juniper extracts.[xii]

As you can see by these studies, Nature provides solutions that are often superior to results obtained by drugs – and these are increasingly being confirmed by “evidence-based” medicine. Truly, the fact that we are alive here today is a direct result of pre-modern cultures, the world over, using used plant medicines to stay healthy. We can thank these ancient approaches using “plant allies” for disease prevention and treatment for us being here today. If we are to remain here, especially in face of an increasingly impotent and incompetent medical system, we may have to rediscover them once again.

There are a wide range of chemistries (often over 1,000) working in concert within plants that were evolved in order to provide elaborate defense systems against the same pathogens that afflict humans. When used intelligently, with correct medical supervision, these natural compounds can literally be life-saving.

I believe that we are on the precipice of a natural medical Renaissance, and that this transformation is occurring by sheer necessity as one drug after another fails to produce the expected outcome. Drug and multi-drug resistant diseases are a sign of this, a healing crisis if you will, which if properly understood and responded to, will result in us arriving at a much better place.