Professor Valerie Edwards-Jones of Manchester Metropolitan University conducted a research review and found that advances in technology, especailly in nano-technology, are allowing scientists to increasingly apply silver’s benefits in more areas.

“In simple terms, silver ions are highly effective and eliminate bacteria rapidly,” said Edwards-Jones. “Silver ions enter the bacterial cell where they are able to deactivate important functions inside. This helps to shut down the bacteria’s ability to reproduce which, depending on the type of bacteria, prevents the spread of infection or the development of odor.”

The Professor noted silver’s low allergenic properites is one of its’ most important benefits.  Because of the low incidence of irritation and allergy with silver, surgeons are using silver treated bandages in wound care, including treatment of severe burns.

Edwards-Jones also said for the first time ever in Europe, silver is being used in a new deodorant. The silver ions neutralize the bacteria that cause body odor, stopping it before it begins.

The research review is reported in the journal Letters of Applied Microbiology.

There has been an increased awareness of germs, and people want to stay healthy so they’re looking for ways to kill germs.

Unfortunately, we have a tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Not all germs are bad. We need beneficial microbes. And by relentlessly killing off bacteria, we’re creating a super race of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.

Antibacterial Soaps For Better Healthcare By Reducing Germs

It sounds good doesn’t it? Wash your hands with antibacterial soap to get rid of the germs. Wash your body with antibacterial soap to get rid of the germs. Wash your dishes with antibacterial soap to get rid of the germs.

Well, it’s a case of being too good to be true. The role of antibacterial soaps in creating antibiotic resistant bacteria is controversial, with some scientists saying it does, and others saying it has no effect. The FDA, however, is of the opinion that antibacterial soaps aren’t any better to use than regular soap.

What antibacterial soap may do is along the lines of low doses on antibiotics - kill off weaker bacteria. It’s not strong enough to get the really bad dudes, so once again the stronger germs are left to thrive. And once again, instead of making things better, we’re making them worse by allowing the stronger antibiotic resistant germs to thrive.

So What About New Antibiotics? Are They The Answer To Better Healthcare?

If one antibiotic quits working, well, why not create a new one that DOES work?

This would certainly help the problem we’re facing now, but it would be a continuous cycle. Scientists would have to find new antibiotics on a regular basis as bacteria adapt and become resistant to the latest drug.

Right now there’s a big problem with creating new antibiotics, however. The drug companies have moved away from researching and making antibiotics. Why?

As always, follow the money. There’s not enough profit in antibiotics. It takes a lot of money to get a drug on the market, but people may only take an antibiotic once for 3 – 10 days, and never need it again in their entire lifetime.

On the other hand, drugs taken on a daily basis for cholesterol or high blood pressure or diabetes or any of a number of other maladies are naturally a lot more profitable because people need to take them for long periods of time. The drug companies can sell a lot more of those kind of pills than they can sell of antibiotics. So which do you think they’re going to research?

The bottom line for a drug company is to make a profit. Why spend money on research for antibiotics when it’s much more lucrative to create drugs people will need daily?

Looking For Answers For Better Healthcare

Continually bombarding our bodies with antibiotics is not the answer. New drugs to fight the germs that have become resistant is present antibiotics isn’t so much in the works right now.

So how can we combat this ever-growing menace of antibiotic resistant bacteria?

www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/community/anitbiotic-resistance-faqs.htm
www.nih.gov

It bears repeating – it’s not a question of IF a germ will become resistant to antibiotics, it a matter of WHEN the germ will become antibiotic resistant.

And we’re helping their resistance movement. Oh yes, I’m afraid we’re guilty of aiding and abetting the enemy in many ways!

The major flawed battle strategy we’re using in our war with germs is deploying the main weapon in our arsenal, antibiotics, far too frequently. We’ve been overconfident that antibiotics will always do the job, and have used them unwisely.

One of the major ways (but not the only way!) we’ve overused our antibiotic weaponry, thereby speeding up the mutations of bacteria, is in the search for better healthcare.

Flawed Thinking – Antibiotics For Every Illness Equals Better Healthcare

Antibiotics have been way over-prescribed, and don’t blame it all on the doctors. People go to the doctor expecting a quick fix for their illness, even if all it needs is a little time to get better, NOT an antibiotic. Since doctors thought the miracle cures of antibiotics would always work, there wasn’t any need to refrain from using them. In the mind of both patients and doctors, better healthcare equaled the use of antibiotics. Frequently.

However, antibiotics aren’t always useful. If a person has a cold, or some other viral infection, antibiotics will not help. Taking them may make a person think they feel better, but it doesn’t actually do anything to kill the infection.

What taking an antibiotic unnecessarily does do is kill off any resident bacteria sensitive to the antibiotic used, except of course, any that are mutated to be resistant to that particular antibiotic. And we know where that eventually leads!

Hospitals Can Make You Sick

Sometimes hospitals are a bad place to be. The incidence of hospital acquired infections is growing. It just makes sense. Where do the sickest people go for help? Where do you suppose antibiotics are used the most?

It has come to the point that about 70 percent of bacteria that cause infections in hospitals are resistant to at least one of the drugs most commonly used to treat infections. Some organisms are resistant to all approved antibiotics and must be treated with experimental and potentially toxic drugs.

Hospitals can be breeding grounds for the worst sort of microbes.  They’re the training camp for the elite forces of killer germs.

The Flip Side – Getting Kicked Out Of The Hospital Too Soon

Where once certain illnesses, surgeries and other procedures would have meant a lengthy hospital stay, patients are being booted out of the hospital sooner and sooner. This means sicker people are coming back into the community instead of staying in the hospital until they’re well.

Many of them will be on antibiotics, either for an active infection, or as a preventative measure. Some of them may have a hospital acquired infection they don’t even realize they’ve got until they’ve been home a day or two, and then be put on antibiotics.

As pointed out earlier, those hospital acquired infections are more likely to be from antibiotic resistant germs. So not only do the people who needed to go to the hospital get them, but if they get out in the community while they have the infection, they can spread it to others.

Too Many Antibiotic Prescriptions Does NOT Equal Better Healthcare

Germs take the job of procreation very seriously, so the numbers of antibiotic resistant bacteria are growing quickly. The bottom line is there have been too many people taking antibiotics that didn’t need them, thus speeding up the process of killing off the germs that are NOT resistant, while allowing the ones that are to flourish.

Our flawed strategies for germ warfare are hastening the day when antibiotics will no longer work.

FDA Consumer Magazine, Sept. 1995
www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/
www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/anti_resist.html
www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/antimicrobialresistance/
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in antimicrobial resistance. The Journal of Infectious Diseases DOI: 10.1086/533451
Nutrition Action Health Letter, October 2008