Infection Control With Folk Medicine

By Mark Wagner


Super germs are in the news today. The overuse of antibiotics is one reason that medical personnel are having trouble fighting germs. Another reason is the ease of travel. People can fly in from a distant country carrying a disease that there is little or no local resistance to. All this is scary, but there are effective means of infection control according to some alternative practitioners. Home remedies may be your best defense in the new millennium.

Antibiotics came on the scene like a miracle, making things like blood poisoning and gangrene only faint memories. However, they were not used only as medicine. Farmers began adding them to animal feed, and household products contained them as sanitizing agents. Doctors also began prescribing them for even minor illnesses, often in response to the patient's demands. This overdosing has caused some strains of bacteria to become resistant to the more common and readily available drugs.

Contagious diseases seem to be becoming more serious, and international travelers may carry them from one country to another in a way that was not possible in former times. A population may have little or no immunity to a germ from another country, and an epidemic can spread rapidly. Other diseases that may have been stamped out in certain areas can reappear, like tuberculosis has done in the United States.

This is a frightening scenario, but alternative medicine may have answers. Natural therapists say that a strong immune system can handle any bacteria or virus. If the immune system becomes weakened, the body is vulnerable to contagion. Practitioners advocate a good diet of natural foods, an active lifestyle, a program of stress reduction, and the use of dietary supplements for prevention and treatment.

Immune system boosters are big business today. Probiotics, or beneficial gut bacteria, can help keep us healthy and our immunity strong. Vitamins like A, C, and E are known to help protect from contagion, and there are many herbs that fight colds, fevers, and viruses. Echinacea and elderberry are widely used. Even minerals are known to fight illness; zinc lozenges are sold for protection from colds and flu.

Silver is another mineral used as a natural antibiotic. It has been known since ancient times in one form or another to heal and protect. Roman soldier used it to treat wounds. Pioneers put silver coins in their milk barrels to keep the milk fresh while traveling. Space ships - and now municipalities - use it in water purification. Industrial tubes and pipes are disinfected with silver solutions.

Silver is considered safe up to a point. After that, people can actually turn blue from taking too much. However, the dosage must be very high and the usage extreme to suffer this reaction. If you are worried about your skin tone, it still might not be a bad idea to keep a bottle of colloidal silver on hand for emergency use. If you have a sore that won't heal or think you have come into contact with someone that has a serious and highly contagious disease, you can use silver as a temporary shield against infection.

Other folk cures include poultices, fresh goat's milk, mustard packs, and mega doses of vitamins. It might be smart to refresh your memory on the remedies your mother and grandmother used to keep their families healthy in by-gone days.




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