Germs, microbes, and other such things.

[Cthulhu]

I am involved in school for biology class in what is called the Small World Initiative. We are taking soil samples from around the university to study the defense mechanisms of bacteria in an effort to find more sources of antibiotics to combat diseases that plague us.

Particularly the drug resistant or drug immune plights which we are now feeling the brunt of.

I'll be posting my research in this thread.

[Dark Mistress]

I am involved in school for biology class in what is called the Small World Initiative. We are taking soil samples from around the university to study the defense mechanisms of bacteria in an effort to find more sources of antibiotics to combat diseases that plague us.

Particularly the drug resistant or drug immune plights which we are now feeling the brunt of.

I'll be posting my research in this thread.

I think the answer is less ANTIbiotics and more PRO-biotics. IMO. Maybe that's why we have drug/immune resistance???

[Perianne]

I think the answer is less ANTIbiotics and more PRO-biotics. IMO. Maybe that's why we have drug/immune resistance???

There has always been and always will be permutations and evolution in the microbial world. If you try to kill them, they will find a way to survive. At the same time antibiotics have saved thousands of lives, including my own.

[Cthulhu]

I think the answer is less ANTIbiotics and more PRO-biotics. IMO. Maybe that's why we have drug/immune resistance???

Needlessly prescribing antibiotics to shut a parent up has done a great deal of harm, this is correct. But Perianne is also correct in the fact that these microbes continuously evolve.

The end game of the research is to see if we can harness microbes natural defenses to produce toxins we haven't thought up in a chemistry lab that are effective against known pathogens.

[Peter1469]

Factory farms use a lot of antibiotics to keep their animals alive long enough to get to the slaughterhouse. Then it gets into the food chain.

[Peter1469]

Colloidal Silver is supposed to work as well.

[Dark Mistress]

Factory farms use a lot of antibiotics to keep their animals alive long enough to get to the slaughterhouse. Then it gets into the food chain.

Ranchers will use them too. My Dad ranched, his dad ranched. If one cow gets sick and the rest of the herd does-they cannot sell their cows and they turn no profit. I understand why they use antibiotics, but I feel like we esp as human OVER-use and over-prescribe for every little thing. I understand that some infections can turn nasty and kill you. But a lot of what ails us can be taken care of with alternative and home remedies. I believe the best medicine is preventive medicine. Putting good stuff in our bodies. Eating well and giving our bodies what they need or lack. Drinking WATER and not soda/fruit beverages. I think we would have fewer problems if people took better care of themselves.

[lynn]

it is very bad for farm animals to be given so many antibiotics because it does make its way into your stomach when you consume meat. We have a ton of good microbes that aid in our digestion and I am sure that these antibiotic fed meat is killing off our own microbe content.

You definitely can taste it in chicken these days, it doesn't taste the same like it did years ago.

[Peter1469]

That is why I try to eat only organic raised meat.

it is very bad for farm animals to be given so many antibiotics because it does make its way into your stomach when you consume meat. We have a ton of good microbes that aid in our digestion and I am sure that these antibiotic fed meat is killing off our own microbe content.

You definitely can taste it in chicken these days, it doesn't taste the same like it did years ago.

[Dark Mistress]

I am fairly anti-organic in fact. Not because I don't think organic is better but because of what the FDA requires to be "certified organic." It's ridiculous and in many instances the "proof" is not there. Scientific studies based on rats/mice that already have a 50% chance or more of getting cancerous tumors without whichever element they are trying to "prove" is cancerous. Most of these studies are manipulated to prove what those funding the research want them to prove.

So what about the antibiotics we take?? And how them make their way into our stomachs? Also there is a lot of debate of the growth hormones in cows. Okay, if you understand anything about hormone therapy those hormones are out of your system in a week. I have done hormone therapy to prevent pre-term labor and within a week you can't even detect the hormones in your system. Before cows are slaughtered they are test for hormones-rbst being one of them. And if there are any traces of hormone they will not send to the slaughter house.

People don't have enough information to adequately assess the situation. Everywhere we are told to eat organic, it's better for you. When, more cases of e-coli are found in organically grown food because in order to be "organic certified" you can't used herbicides and pesticides.

My solution-grow your own food. Sadly, not realistic for most of us. But a lot of our own gardens would not be considered "organic" by FDA standards.