Instead of antibiotics more often times naturopathy

Infections: New treatment strategy also relies on herbal medicines

04/14/2014

While antibiotic-resistant bacteria are rapidly spreading, the number of new registrations of antibiotic agents is declining sharply. In order not to lose these important weapons against serious infections, experts recommend using herbal medicines more often for certain infectious diseases.

Nearly 50 years ago, it was believed that infections could be largely defeated - thanks to antibiotics. A mistake, as we know today. „Infectious diseases are causing us more and more headaches today“, Prof. André Gessner, director of the Institute for Microbiology and Hygiene of the University of Regensburg, recently explained in Munich. The reason: More and more - especially gram-negative - bacteria do not respond to antibiotics, so are resistant. In the meantime, there are even germs that no longer respond to antibiotics. The assertion that we are facing catastrophic deaths because of deadly bacteria is therefore not, according to Prof. Gessner, exaggerated. The World Health Organization (WHO) also agrees and considers antibiotic resistance to be one of the biggest health problems of the present.

The cause of this threatening development lies above all in the improper use of existing antibacterial drugs. This applies to human medicine, but also to veterinary medicine. In humans, antibiotics are often used in viral infections, although they only work against bacteria. In factory farming, antibiotics are distributed
often completely untargeted by the watering can principle. Both favor the selection of resistant bacterial strains.

What to do? New antibiotics, against which there are still no resistance, are few in sight. One way to slow down the increase in drug resistance, sees Prof. Gessner in a more responsible prescription practice. This includes the use of well-studied herbal medicines in a number of minor infectious diseases. Phytopharmaceuticals have proven especially effective in acute respiratory tract infections, which are mostly caused by viruses and in urinary tract infections. In contrast to antibiotics, herbal extracts usually not only antibacterial, but also antiviral and simultaneously counteract inflammation, which additionally supports the recovery. (KFN)