Death By Virus: C Diff May Have A Natural Enemy
C. diff is one of the natural microbes found in your gut, but chronic antibiotic use can make it go haywire. Its also one of the many superbugs turning up at hospitals. It caused 14,000 deaths and 250,000 hospitalizations between 2005 and 2011, according to the CDC.
Specialists at the University of Leicester and AmpliPhi Biosciences Corporation have found phages, viruses that eat bacteria, to specifically target C. diff. They work by attaching to bacteria as a host, injecting their DNAwhich replicatesand causing the bacterial cell to burst open.
Researchers say these phages are effective against 90 percent of the most clinically relevant C. diff strains in the United Kingdom.
The key advantage of using phages over antibiotics lies in their specificity. A phage will infect and kill only a specific strain or species of bacteria. This is particularly important when treating conditions like C. diff infections, where maintenance of the natural balance of gut bacteria greatly reduces the chance of relapse, Dr. Martha Clokie, from the University of Leicesters Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, said in a statement.
AmpliPhi is funding the development of these C. diff phages and hopes to have a mixture ready for clinical trials soon.
Tips On How To Treat Bacterial Infection Without Antibiotics
Bacteria are single-cell microscopic organisms living nearly everywhere. They live in every location and climate on our earth. Some of them are airborne while others live in soil or water. Bacteria live both inside and on plants, people, and animals. Although the word bacteria comes with a negative connotation, they actually perform a lot of vital functions for the organisms and in the environment. For instance, plants need bacteria available in the soil to grow. However, a bacterial infection is often a proliferation of the harmful strain of bacteria inside or on the human body. When it comes to bacterial infection on the skin, there are many types of bacteria infecting the human skin. Bacterial infections could lead to many conditions. Infections happen because the bacteria break into the human body and develop on the skin.
To treat the bacterial infection on skin without antibiotics, you first need to define symptoms of bacteria and risk factors of this condition. This entry made by TrueRemedies.com will expose to you all of such things.
A doctor might use the presence of a few other symptoms like body aches or a fever, the duration of the illness, and specific lab tests to help determine if an ailment is because of a bacteria, virus, or other disease or pathogen process.
How Do You Get Rid Of A Fungal Infection Fast
Home Remedies For Fungal Infection are: Eat Yoghurt and Probiotics. Yoghurt and other probiotics have an ample amount of good bacteria that help stave off many fungal infections. Wash with Soap and Water. Use Apple Cider Vinegar. Use Tea Tree Oil. Use Coconut Oil. Use Turmeric. Use Aloe Vera. Garlic.
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Natural Remedies For Strep Throat Without Antibiotics
If you say no to antibiotics, and here we will show you some home remedies to treat your strep throat. In fact, antibiotics have their downsides, so natural remedies are preferred in most cases. Keep up with the article and lets find out the best way to make this bacterial infection go away on its own.
Garlic On How To Treat Bacterial Infection
You can lay your belief in garlic because it is also another natural home remedy with antibacterial properties. Garlic is available in every kitchen and it is the excellent home remedy to treat different fungal and bacterial infections. An effective way on how to treat bacterial infection is eating 4-5 cloves of garlic per day. You can chew and swallow it. Another way is taking garlic in the form of capsules. However, this way may be less effective than chewing garlic freshly. If you cannot stay with fresh garlic cloves, you can think of its capsules but we still recommend you eating it raw. Besides, garlic tea is another solution that is also considered as the herbal remedy on how to treat bacterial infection. You should add some cloves in the boiling water and steep for a few minutes before sipping the garlic tea. It is easy to have a cup of garlic tea so that you are supposed to spend a little effort and time on it. Garlic tea will be a useful treatment.
To know other benefits of garlic, you can view at Benefits Of Garlic
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Fighting Infection Without Antibiotics
For those who are generally in good health, there are treatment options for common illnesses that dont rely on antibiotics.
For complaints such as rhinosinusitis, sore throats, and bronchitis, the CDC recommends avoiding antibiotics and focusing on managing symptoms. Most uncomplicated illnesses require rest and time in order to heal, and in many cases antibiotics will only speed your recovery by a day or two at most.
You can also help your body get healthy without antibiotics by using safe home remedies to relieve symptoms and fight bacterial infections.
How Long Does Strep Throat Last Without Antibiotics
Using antibiotics as a medical treatment for strep throat has become more and more common. However, there has been a lot of worries about how long does strep throat last without antibiotics? because people often think that antibiotics are one of the best treatment to reduce the symptoms as well as minimize the risk of its complications.
Strep throat occurs mostly in children aged from five to fifteen. And recently most parents are often making their great attempt to lessen the use of antibiotics in treating strep throat. The reason is that though antibiotics can diminish the risk of complications and make the body improve quicker, using it may exert unexpected health issues and lead to an increase in the susceptibility to bacteria and infection.
Then, almost all parents consider how long does strep throat last without antibiotics? Maybe, most of us havent received any adequate answers for this long-debated issue. Here, let us bring this matter come to light and you may know than you expected.
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Lemon For Bacterial Infection
Lemon is another home remedy that treats many infections caused by bacteria, especially respiratory infection. Lemon can help to remove the mucus accumulated in the respiratory tract. Moreover, drinking lemon juice also gets rid of the bacteria trapped in the mucous. Therefore, lemon is indispensable on the list of tips on how to treat bacterial infection.
Besides, let us remind you of another important health benefit of lemon, which is its ability to combat allergy and asthma thanks to the significant amount of vitamin C it contains. If you want to investigate deeper, you can follow this link.
How To Get Rid Of A Sinus Infection Without Antibiotics
A sinus infection occurs when the nasal cavities become infected. Triggered by a virus or bacteria, this infection is often mistaken for the common cold — although a sinus infection lasts much longer. Symptoms include runny nose, nasal congestion, headache and facial pain.
If you are experiencing serious medical symptoms, seek emergency treatment immediately.
Most of the time, antibiotics are not necessary to treat sinus infections because the cause is viral and the infection clears up on its own. Although there is no home remedy that can cure a sinus infection, the following steps may improve comfort and ease symptoms while your body does its job fighting the infection.
Tips
Home treatment may work to ease symptoms as your body recovers from a viral infection, but if you have a bacterial infection, you’ll need antibiotic treatment.
The best way to tell the difference is to pay attention to symptom duration. For instance, viral sinus infections tend to get better after five to seven days, while bacterial sinus infections tends to last longer, and may worsen after a week.
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Curing A Viral Infection
Antibiotics are useless against viral infections. This is because viruses are so simple that they use their host cells to perform their activities for them. So antiviral drugs work differently to antibiotics, by interfering with the viral enzymes instead.Antiviral drugs are currently only effective against a few viral diseases, such as influenza, herpes, hepatitis B and C and HIV but research is ongoing. A naturally occurring protein, called interferon , can now be produced in the laboratory and is used to treat hepatitis C infections.
Do I Need Antibiotics For A Common Cold Or The Flu
Good-quality, reliable clinical studies have shown that antibiotics do not improve the symptoms of a cold or the flu. This is because antibiotics work only on infections caused by bacteria common colds and the flu are infections caused by viruses.
Antibiotics will not
- help a cold or the flu get better faster
- stop a cold or the flu from getting worse or
- stop a cold or the flu from spreading to other people.
If you are usually healthy and well, your immune system will take care of most respiratory tract infections both viral and some bacterial infections by itself.
However, antibiotics are more likely to be needed for people who:
- have serious infections caused by bacteria
- have an ongoing health condition
- are older or in generally poor health, or have a weakened immune system
- have a higher risk of complications with a respiratory tract infection .
Using antibiotics when you don’t need them can contribute to the problem of antibiotic resistance. This might mean that if you have a serious infection, such as pneumonia, in the future, antibiotics may not work as well.
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Be Medicinewise With Antibiotics
- Take your antibiotics at the right time, and for as long as directed.
- Dont take more than the dose your doctor has prescribed sometimes the medicine box may contain more antibiotic pills than you will be instructed to take.
- Dont keep unused antibiotics for another time return leftover pills to your pharmacy for disposal.
- Dont share antibiotics with others they may have a different infection and this can lead to antibiotic resistance.
The Consumer Medicine Information for your medicine lists useful information including how to take your antibiotic and what to do if you miss a dose. The CMI will list the usual dose, but sometimes your doctor will prescribe a different dose that is more suitable for you.
Characteristics Of The Bacterium
Most bacteria, apart from the cocci variety, move around with the aid of small lashing tails or by whipping their bodies from side to side. Under the right conditions, a bacterium reproduces by dividing in two. Each daughter cell then divides in two and so on, so that a single bacterium can bloom into a population of some 500,000 or more within just eight hours.If the environmental conditions dont suit the bacteria, some varieties morph into a dormant state. They develop a tough outer coating and await the appropriate change of conditions. These hibernating bacteria are called spores. Spores are harder to kill than active bacteria because of their outer coating.
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How Do Antibiotics Work
Antibiotics are prescription-only medications that fight bacteria in one of 2 ways: they either kill bacteria or stop bacteria from growing. Antibiotics dont treat infections caused by viruses or fungi .
Understanding how antibiotics work can be complicated. First, there are many classes of antibiotics: penicillins like , cephalosporins like , aminoglycosides like , and more. And then within each class, individual antibiotics treat different types of infections. , for example, can treat urinary tract infections but can also be used to treat travelers diarrhea and infected wounds.
New Understanding Of Immune Cells Could Help Us Fight Infection Without Antibiotics
- Study reveals how effective immune cells are at controlling Staphylococcus aureus â bacteria that can cause life-threatening infections in humans
- Research paves the way for the development of new treatments to help the immune system kill bacteria without antibiotics
- New insight into the immune systemâs response to infection is vital as antibiotics become less effective
A new understanding of immune cells could help scientists support our own immune system to fight infection without the need for antibiotics.
Scientists from the University of Sheffield examined how immune cells â called neutrophils â respond to bacteria, and the many different strategies they use to kill microbes which can cause harmful infections.
The study, published in the journal Autophagy, revealed how effective neutrophils were at controlling Staphylococcus aureus â bacteria that can cause life-threatening infections in humans.
Dr Simon Johnston, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sheffieldâs Florey Institute and Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease, said: âA major problem in some Staphylococcal aureus infections is that they can be resistant to antibiotics. This means treating these infections might be very difficult or impossible.
âWe know that some immune cells can detect when bacteria escape these phagosomes. One way is using autophagy, a process that evolved to recycle old or broken parts of cells.â
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What You Can Do To Feel Better
- Ask your healthcare professional about the best way to feel better while your body fights off the virus.
- If you need antibiotics, take them exactly as prescribed. Talk with your healthcare professional if you have any questions about your antibiotics.
- Talk with your healthcare professional if you develop any side effects, especially severe diarrhea, since that could be a C. diff. infection, which needs to be treated immediately.
- Do your best to stay healthy and keep others healthy:
- Clean hands by washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol
- Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze
- Stay home when sick
- Get recommended vaccines, such as the flu vaccine.
To learn more about antibiotic resistance, visit CDCs Antibiotic Resistance website.
Risks Of Natural Antibiotics
Just because something is labeled natural, it is not necessarily safe.
The amounts and concentrations of active ingredients vary among brands of supplements. Read labels carefully. A person should also inform their healthcare provider if they plan to take these supplements.
While cooked garlic is usually safe to consume, research suggests that taking concentrated garlic may the risk of bleeding. This can be dangerous for people facing surgery or taking blood thinners.
Garlic concentrates may also reduce the usefulness of HIV medications.
Certain products should be avoided, including colloidal silver. This substance consists of microscopic pieces of silver suspended in water.
Colloidal silver has been recommended as a treatment for a variety of diseases, including the bubonic plague and HIV. However, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, it can be dangerous, and no credible studies back up these uses.
Taking colloidal silver supplements may interfere with the effectiveness of antibiotics and medication used to treat an underactive thyroid gland.
Silver can also build up in the body and turn the skin bluish-gray. This condition is called argyria and is permanent in most people.
Due to the current increase in drug-resistant diseases, most doctors do not prescribe antibiotics unless they are effective and necessary.
Antibiotics are most often prescribed to:
- scheduled for surgery
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Taking Germs Down: How It Works
Your white blood cells lock on to the germs in order to absorb or destroy them. They have antibodies that latch onto the germs.
Experience makes your immune system stronger. The first time your body comes into contact with a certain type of germ, your immune response may take a while. You might need several days to make and use all the germ-fighting parts you need to get rid of your infection. It takes time to hack the germâs code and destroy it.
If you come across that same germ later on, your body will remember and fight it off faster, so you can get over the infection and feel better. Mission accomplished!
Show Sources
PubMed Health: âThe Immune System,â âWhat are the organs of the immune system?â âHow does the immune system work?â
Johns Hopkins Medicine: âImmune System.â
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation: âRespiratory: What You Should Know About Germs.â
Merck Manual: âDefenses Against Infection,â âOverview of the Immune System.â
American Academy of Family Physicians: âChildhood Vaccines: What They Are and Why Your Child Needs Them.â
University of Rochester Medical Center: âWhat Are White Blood Cells?â
CDC: âUnderstanding How Vaccines Work.â
How Do Antibiotics Fight Infections
In essence, antibiotics are selective poisons used to kill bacterial cells. The term loosely translates to “against life.” In some senses, all things that kill cells are antibiotic this includes poisons and toxins. Chemotherapy is antibiotic because it kills cancer cells, and unfortunately some human cells with it. Yet in most definitions, antibiotics are medications people take when they have bacterial infections.
Antibiotics fight infection by either killing bacteria outright or by inhibiting the growth or development of bacterial cells. The former type is called bactericidal, and the latter, bacteriostatic. The goal of the antibiotic, which can be made of naturally occurring fungi or chemical compounds, is to harm bacterial cells that are making people ill, without harming human cells.
Scientists classify antibiotics by either how they work or the bacteria against which they are most effective. When bacteria can be killed, the antibiotic disrupting the membrane of bacterial cells normally does this. They can also inhibit bacterial growth through keeping bacterial cells from making proteins and acids that they need for survival and reproduction.
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