Germs…It seems they are everywhere.  They are on every surface imaginable, including our counter tops, clothes and skin.  We breathe in thousands of them every hour.  They line the mouth, throat, lungs and entire digestive tract. Germs are unavoidable and it’s a good thing, because without them, we could not survive.  There are many different types of germs and each serves a different function. The germs or bacteria that line our skin and lungs consume the millions of dying cells that our bodies slough off each day. The ones in our digestive tracts help us digest our food and in the process, they produce vitamins and minerals that the body needs. Every type of germ has an essential purpose, even those that seem to be associated with certain infectious diseases.

Germs are the scavengers of nature. They clean up the waste. In a normal healthy person, this process of scavenging waste goes on without the production of any uncomfortable symptoms. However, in people with unhealthy lifestyles (poor diets, lack of exercise, excess stress, etc…), these scavengers multiply in an effort to keep up with the over-production of waste. And, when germs over-multiply they can augment the symptoms of a disease.  It is important to understand that germs do not cause diseases any more than flies cause garbage or mosquitoes cause stagnant water. Germs are the result of disease.  Their purpose is to clean up. Germs feed on waste. They do not affect healthy cells. They only grow where the terrain or tissue is diseased, dying or dead.

Rudolph Virchow – the father of Cellular Pathology stated later in his life:
“If I could live my life over again, I would devote it to proving that germs seek their natural habitat —diseased tissue—rather than being the cause of the diseased tissue”

Louis Pasteur – founded the Germ Theory and developed Pasteurization, stated on his deathbed:
“The terrain is everything, the germ is nothing”
 

The germ theory, which states that disease is the result of germs (microbes) invading the body, is at the foundation of modern western medical science. This theory has drawn much attention to the destruction of these little microbes.  It started the unending war of humans versus germs. The elimination of germs has become a trillion dollar industry in the form of anti-microbial products like soaps, hand-washes, and household disinfecting and cleaning solutions. Most of the money, however, is put into the research and development of antibiotics and vaccines. It is baffling to think that all of this effort is put towards destroying organisms that we cannot live without.  To reiterate, germs feed on waste, not on healthy cells.  The cure for “infectious diseases” lies not in the development of better antibiotics and vaccines, but in the attainment and maintenance of better health.  This explains why, for example, when two people are exposed to the same “disease causing” germ, one becomes ill and the other does not.  What many people don’t realize is that the germs or microbes that are thought to cause disease are a normal part of our bodies’ natural flora.  For example:

Group A Streptococcus, Pneumococci, Neisseria, and Staphylococcus Aureus – are thought to cause Strep throat, Pneumonia, Scarlet fever, Gonorrhea, Meningitis and various serious and sometimes fatal skin, ear, eye and blood infections.

These organisms are all part of the normal flora of the skin, throat, and nasal passages.  The only reason they are associated with serious diseases is due to the fact that, like other microbes, they multiply on dead and diseased tissue or unhealthy terrain.  Again, the disease was already present – the microbes are only there to clean up the mess.

Antibiotics

There is no question about the value of antibiotics.  They have helped many people with acute, life-threatening conditions.  The major concern however, lies in them being over-prescribed.  Many doctors give them out like candy unaware of the dangers of their long-term and frequent use.  Most “infectious diseases” are well managed by the bodies immune system.  “Infectious diseases” are very rarely life threatening in normally healthy people.  If the body is given the opportunity to run the full course of a disease, without the intervention of antibiotics, it is left in a higher state of health.  After all, the bacteria are there to clean up.  If these microbes are allowed to complete their task then the body becomes free of waste and toxins, and is subsequently healthier.  However, when the bacteria are destroyed by antibiotics and not allowed to consume the diseased tissue then the infection just returns or another even more serious infection can, and more often does occur.  This is why lifestyle is so essential.  Reducing the waste production of the body through healthier living will reduce the need for the over production of bacteria and other microbes.

Another problem created by excess antibiotic use is the introduction of other microbes, like yeast or Candida.  Antibiotics only destroy bacteria.  The lack of bacteria to consume the diseased tissue means other organisms are free to move in and do the work of the bacteria.  The main concern is that fungal infections (like Candida) are often more persistent than bacterial infections.  They produce more long-term uncomfortable symptoms and are more difficult to eliminate.  Anti-fungal medications usually need to be taken for longer periods of time than antibiotics and have many more side effects including liver damage.

The most serious concern in regards to antibiotic overuse is mutation.  Bacteria, like all living organisms have the potential to mutate (that is, to change forms over generations in an effort to better survive).  Bacteria have a much shorter life cycle than most other living things so the mutations occur very rapidly – like within hours to days.  The goal of bacteria, as with all living things is to survive.  This means they must adapt to the changes in the environment.  If the environment is ridden with chemicals (like antibiotics) that destroy bacteria, then the bacteria are forced to change or mutate and produce new strains that are unaffected or resistant to the antibiotics.  This keeps scientists constantly working on new antibiotics to deal with the newly mutated bacteria.  Unfortunately, for science, the bacteria are winning the battle.  These microbes are changing more rapidly than new antibiotics can be created.  With no antibiotics to control these new strains of bacteria, people with poor immune systems are at great risk.

The last point about antibiotics is their affect on probiotics.  Probiotics refer to those germs or bacteria that serve a positive and constructive purpose to the body.  While this may truly constitute most all bacteria, the ones that fall under the category of probiotics are often called the “friendly” or “good” bacteria.  These bacteria assist in the digestion of food, produce necessary vitamins and minerals for the body and prevent the multiplication of less friendly microbes.  These “friendly” bacteria actually prevent more serious “infectious diseases”.  Most antibiotics, especially broad-spectrum antibiotics, kill the “bad” as well as “good” bacteria.  The lack of “good” bacteria can lead to digestive problems (causing malnutrition), vitamin and mineral deficiencies, food allergies, yeast infections (including Candida), IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), and even irritable bowel diseases like ulcerative colitis.

More recent studies are now suggesting that antibiotics can actually suppress the immune system.  This means people are more susceptible to repeated infections.  The studies are focused in particular on children with ear infections.  Those children treated with repeated doses of antibiotics for their ear infections have significantly higher returning ear infections than those not treated with antibiotics.  This is also seen in other “infectious diseases” like Strep throat and pneumonia.

The advent of the first antibiotic, penicillin, in the 1940s changed the face of medicine forever.  It helped save the lives of many seriously ill people.  But the over-prescribing and overuse of all the antibiotics is driving them into near extinction.  Their effectiveness is decreasing (due to mutation of bacteria) and their assault on health is increasing (causing more serious diseases and nutritional deficiencies).  Unfortunately, this paves the way for the over-prescribing of much more noxious substances, like vaccines.

Vaccines

Most people would agree that their health and the health of their families is one of the most important things to them.  Taking every opportunity to avoid serious diseases is a primary goal.  This is where vaccines come into play.  Vaccines work on the premise of injecting into the body, certain germs assumed to be responsible for “infectious diseases”.  The germ within the vaccine is, of course, in minimal quantity or in a weakened state, but attempts to introduce enough of the disease agent to the immune system to establish some immunity or resistance.  It is a truly fantastic theory – to establish immunity to a disease without actually having to experience and suffer through the disease.

In many cases, vaccines do indeed help to establish some degree of immunity to “infectious diseases”.  Unfortunately, this comes at a cost to long-term health.  And, for infants, especially, it has the potential to create some serious complications.

Babies

Newborn babies are under a considerable amount of stress adapting to their new environment.  Their immune systems are in high gear attempting to cleanse their bodies of the many impurities they experience outside the womb.  In fact babies have an immune organ, called the thymus gland, which is highly developed and very active. The thymus gland in an infant weighs as much as 7 times that of the thymus in an adult.  The thymus gland acts as a boost to the immune system giving healthy babies and children the needed edge to deal with essentially any disease.

The fear of contracting some life-threatening illness is what motivates parents to vaccinate their babies.  However, the decision to vaccinate is one that should be made with as much awareness as possible because of the many side effects of the various vaccines on the market today.  Vaccinating babies adds to the amount of stress their immune systems are already under.  Vaccinations actually suppress the babies’ immune system.   This is why most physicians advise against vaccinating when a baby is ill.

Breast milk is high in certain immunoglobulins.  The immunoglobulins are a type of antibody that serves as the bodies’ main defense to foreign and unwanted substances.  Therefore, the mother is essentially sharing her immune system with the baby.  If the mother is healthy than the baby has a strong defense.  However, in a mother with a weak immune system, babies that are fed conventional formulas or those living in an environment with poor hygiene, there is always a risk to these babies of contracting an “infectious disease”.  In these situations, vaccinations have the potential to spare the baby a life threatening condition, barring any serious immediate side effects and at a cost to long-term health.

Side Effects

Vaccinations present a series of complications to health, the first of which are the side effects.  Some of the most common side effects are mild.  They include fever, irritability, tiredness, cough, runny nose, and pain and rash at the site of the injection.  More serious side effects, although rare, vary depending on the vaccination.  The most serious side effect associated with most vaccines is, of course, death.  It is highly uncommon, but nonetheless, does occur.  In the past couple decades there have been strong correlations between vaccinations and SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

SIDS was less prevalent prior to vaccinations.  It is highest in the same months corresponding to the initial vaccination regimens (from 2 to 4 months).  There are studies funded by the vaccine manufacturers that show little to no correlation between vaccinations and SIDS.  However, there are also equally as many studies (peer reviewed), by independent researchers that show strong connections between vaccinations and SIDS.

Additional serious side effects to the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella), HiB (H. Influenzae) and DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus) include:

Anaphylactic shock
Permanent neurological damage
Seizures
Convulsions
Meningitis
Diabetes
Encephalopathy (brain fever)
Mental retardation
Multiple sclerosis
Guillain-Barre syndrome (paralysis disease)
Arthritis*

Additives

Another concern with vaccinations is the additives.  Vaccinations contain some chemicals and heavy metals, which act to preserve, inactivate, and stabilize the disease agent or germ.  The additives vary depending on the type of vaccination.  Many of these additives are extremely poisonous to humans causing irreparable damage to body tissue.  Oddly, some of these harmful chemicals and metals are added to vaccinations in quantities that even exceed the FDA limitations.  They include the following:

Long Term Health

The serious and immediate side effects to the vaccines and short-term reactions to the additives are an issue by themselves.  However, the long-term effects of vaccinations should be added to the list when considering whether or not to vaccinate.  Vaccinations offer only temporary immunity, this is why people need to receive booster shots throughout their lives.  Vaccinations are injected into the blood and bypass one of the most crucial parts of the immune system – Immunoglobulin A  (special antibodies that line the respiratory and digestive tract).  Most people with healthy immune systems gain full immunity to most all “infectious diseases” through Immunoglobulin A, yet vaccinations completely over look these antibodies.  Another advantage to including Immunoglobulin A in the immune response to an “infectious disease” is, when immunity is gained, it is permanent.

Most “infectious diseases” are mild, especially in healthy children.  One of the risks of vaccinations is that they delay diseases to adulthood.  For example, chickenpox, although irritating, is a mild disease in a child.  When the disease is allowed to run it’s full course naturally, permanent immunity is gained.  However, when vaccinations for chicken pox are given, only temporary immunity occurs.  Therefore, an adult vaccinated as a child is at risk of contracting chickenpox later in life.  For an adult, chickenpox can be a serious condition.  The point in our history when “infectious disease” was harmful is when people were much less healthy.  Most “infectious diseases” were on the decline decades before the introduction of vaccinations.  Their decline was the result of improved nutrition, sanitation and hygiene.

Chronic diseases (like cancer, asthma, heart disease, etc.) are becoming more and more prevalent.  They are continually increasing as vaccinations are being constantly added.  Cancer, especially in children has been on the rise since the introduction of mass vaccination programs, and it is still rising.  Cancer, just like other chronic diseases, is the result of the excessive buildup of toxins in the body.  Vaccinations add to the toxic load of the body in many ways, as discussed above.  This buildup takes time - years and often decades.  But, eventually, these toxins catch up and play a serious toll on health.

The CDC (center for disease control) does not deny that serious side effects exist and that vaccinations have a certain level of toxicity associated with them.  Just like with all pharmaceutical medications, there is a “risk to benefit” ratio – that is, does the risk associated with the negative side effects of vaccinations outweigh the benefit of reducing the chance of contracting an “infectious disease”.  People that suffer and even die from “infectious diseases” are those with weakened immune systems usually attributed to poor lifestyle choices.  Healthy people simply do not suffer the same fate.

This ongoing war with germs is one that people are loosing.  Germs are more resilient and more adaptable than any living organism on earth.  There is a harmony that nature intended between microbes and all other living things, including people.  But, this harmony only exists for people when they are in an overall state of good health.  Riding on the premise that people need drugs, like antibiotics and vaccines, to remain healthy suggests that nature is flawed.  Whether made by creation or evolved over millions of years, the immune system is perfectly adapted to this environment – it is part of the ecology.  Therefore, it is perfectly capable of dealing with whatever “infectious disease” may come its way.  The only responsibility that people have is to maintain as high a state of health as possible and allow nature to do its part.  When medical science realizes the true benefit of all germs and the sanctity of all life, is when medicine will be in harmony with nature and will become truly effective.

Learn more about antibiotics and vaccines from the following sources:

Beyond Antibiotics by Dr. Lendin Smith and Dr. Keith Sehnert

The Sanctitiy of Human Blood by Dr. Tim O’Shea

www.vaccination.inoz.com/ingredie.html

www.mercola.com/2003/jul/12/vaccine_procedure.htm

www.tuberose.com/Germ_Theory.html

www.mercola.com/2003/jul/12/vis_brochure.pdf