"Certain bacterial infections now defy all antibiotics."

--Stuart Levy, M.D.

Most of us believe that widespread plagues are a thing of the past, that diseases can never again devastate huge numbers of people and ravage the planet as they did for countless centuries. Unfortunately, quite the opposite is true. Due to the potential for viruses to mutate into deadly virulent strains, the increasing number of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria, the increasing probability that bio-weapons will fall into terrorist hands, and the almost instantaneous worldwide transport of humans and animals via modern air travel, the risk of worldwide plagues is probably worse now than ever before!

Viruses do not respond to antibiotics and it often takes many years to develop vaccines for specific viruses. For example, after spending billions of dollars on research, scientists have yet to produce viable vaccines for the AIDS, Ebola and Hemorrhagic Dengue Fever viruses. Just like the flu virus of 1918, that killed an estimated 21-50 million victims worldwide, a new strain of deadly virulent virus could emerge at any time and quickly spread throughout the world. Or a plague could spread from an existing bio weapons virus, like the dreaded Marburg virus, first introduced into the Soviet arsenal in 1990.

The media has been focused on Anthrax, which is popular with terrorists because it is deadly when untreated, yet relatively safe to handle and easy to grow with only a modest level of technology and bio-protection. Since anthrax responds to antibiotics, I am far more frightened by the threats posed by a number of deadly viruses and antibiotic resistant bacteria, for which western science has no successful treatment.

Not all biological threats come from terrorists and the third world. A significant, and growing threat, is cultivated right here, in America, on our modern factory farms. Some bright researchers figured out that farm animals fed sub-clinical doses of antibiotics grow faster than animals eating regular feed. This has been a boon to the pharmaceutical industry (40% of American made antibiotics are fed to animals), but it is also leading to the end of “The Age of Wonder Drugs”. Since bacteria reproduce at 500,000 times the rate of humans, natural genetic selection has made antibiotic fed farm animals into a perfect breeding ground for growing super-microbes that are resistant to modern medicines. When Jim Hensen, the beloved inventor of The Muppets, succumbed to a pneumonia-like infection from an antibiotic resistant form of Strep (Group A Beta Hemolytic Streptococci), the best doctors and antibiotics that money could buy were not able to save his life.

When it comes to antibiotic resistant bacteria and deadly viruses, so-called “alternative medicine”, including herbs and a variety of other treatments, could be your most effective form of treatment and prevention.  A few years ago, my wife suffered from an antibiotic resistant urinary infection that was probably caused by the same strain of antibiotic resistant E. coli that reportedly plagued women across the country (San Francisco Chronicle 10/14/2001). We spent over a thousand dollars on doctors and courses of three different antibiotics, including the infamous Cipro.

After months of unsuccessful medical treatment, she was finally able to kick the infection when she resorted to an alternative medicine combination of grapefruit seed extract (from the health food store) and large quantities of homemade antibiotic colloidal silver solution. My book, When Technology Fails, has an excellent chapter devoted to herbs for boosting your immune system, and alternative medicines that could work when western style allopathic medicines fail, or are simply unavailable. This chapter also includes instructions on how to make your own colloidal silver generator using three nine volt batteries, silver wire, and other simple components readily available at Radio Shack. Colloidal silver has been shown to be effective against over 600 strains of bacteria, and these bacteria have not shown the ability to develop resistance to it.

Want to learn more about the BIO THREAT and its impending impact on your life? For a list of handy alternative medicines and herbs that could work when western style allopathic medicines fail, or are simply unavailable, check out the article Handy Alternative Medicines and Herbs posted on this web site. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has a fact sheet on The Problem of Antibiotic Resistance at www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/antimicro.htm