It appears persistent bacteria has a sweet tooth

[YosemiteSam]

This is great news.

Doctors have discovered that adding sugar to antibiotics increases their ability to knock out persistent staph infections. Certain types of bacteria called persisters shut down their metabolic processes when exposed to antibiotics. Adding sugar keeps the bacteria feeding, making them more susceptible to drugs. From the article: "Adding such a simple and widely available compound to existing antibiotics enhances their effectiveness against persisters, and fast. One test showed that a sugared up antibiotic could eliminate 99.9 percent of persisters in two hours, while a regular antibiotic did nothing. Doctors believe that this discovery will help treat urinary tract infections, staph infections, and strep throat, but its most life-saving application may be against the age-old disease tuberculosis. This infection of the lungs kills many people, and is hard to fight off. A little sugar could help save a lot of lives."

Read the Article

 

[zrinkill]

Great Discovery

I have had staph twice ...... it sucks.

 

[TheDallasDon]

How was this just now discovered...........its been known for a long time that they feed of sugar

 

[big dog cowboy]

A little sugar could help save a lot of lives."

Doesn't chocolate milk contain sugar?

 

[tupperware]

So much for sugar not having any health benefits

 

[vta]

Doesn't chocolate milk contain sugar?

:laugh2:

 

[notherbob]

That is an interesting development. Bacterial infections, particularly staph and tuberculosis are of great interest to me.

I cured myself of a staph infection once by directly applying crushed raw garlic (crg) to the infection site (huge swollen very sore finger). This intrigued me so I set out to learn all I could about it and in the process learned a lot from three of the most published researchers in attending their lectures, reading their books and personal conversations with them. I learned some interesting things from them.

The allicin created when garlic in its natural state (non-irradiated) is crushed kills all bacteria on contact, including the most resistant strains of staph (MRSA) and tuberculosis (MDRT). One study even showed that crg killed all bacteria up to eight inches away just from the fumes over a four hour period.

When crg is added to water it does not lose its antimicrobial properties and every part of the garlic water becomes highly antimicrobial up to a dilution of 250,000 to 1. Making it more concentrated by adding more crg increases its effectiveness.

If crg is applied to the lesion directly, it is very effective but it burns like fire for about a minute. Diluting it in water does not burn but is still effective though it may take several spplications over time.

In short, garlic water kills MRSA and MRSA cannot become resistant to it because it kills in a different way than antibiotics. Antibiotics work by bonding to a susceptible chemical receptor on the outer surface of a bacterium but if the receptor has evolved and become different then that bacterium is resistant to that antibiotic. Garlic doesn't care about receptors, it penetrates through the cell wall and causes the bacterium to swell up and burst, killing it. No bacteria can become immune to that and it works on contact every time, even if only by fumes.

Taking long soaks in warm/hot garlic water has been shown to cure even cases of deep infection. The bath acts as a giant transdermal patch and the allicin and its breakdown metabolites soak into the skin and are picked up in the capillaries and the lymphatic system and are transported around the body and kill MRSA wherever they encounter it directly until they get attacked by the body's own defenses, which are then strengthened by the disulfide and other compounds in the metabolites.

Garlic should become the MRSA patient's best friend - tubercular patients, too.

Those with tuberculosis can also benefit from garlic water baths by getting some garlic compounds into the body to take out infectious bacteria. In addition, there is another way that crg can help and that is to breathe in the fumes, remembering that the fumes killed off bacteria up to eight inches in still air. By using inhalation one can take these antimicrobial fumes deep into the lungs where the fumes will kill the TB baccilli.

Eating garlic would be of minimal benefit in either case although it would have many other benefits but only direct application to the lesion site wipes out the offending bacteria.

Despite garlic's strong antimicrobial effects, it is not a part of any FDA treatment protocol and cannot be recommended by doctors without exposing themselves to lawsuit, liability and ridicule. Patients are on their own in discovering and using garlic as an adjunct to whatever their doctor is doing, just like with other folk and herbal remedies.

Patients have to protect themselves and their own best interests just like everybody else.

I have been participating in a MRSA patient's forum helping people who have acquired this terrible disease and several families have reported complete cures using garlic baths. Here's the URL if anyone is interested: http://webpages.charter.net/mrsa.america_beyond/index.html

Garlic is Mother Nature's underground pharmacy.

I don't give medical advice because I'm not a doctor but I can discuss garlic and its properties with anybody.

Apologize for the long post.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Can you even buy non-irradiated garlic these days? Probably have to grow it yourself. You wouldn't even be able to tell if it was or wasn't. I'm sure even Organic stores garlic is irradiated.

 

[notherbob]

Can you even buy non-irradiated garlic these days? Probably have to grow it yourself. You wouldn't even be able to tell if it was or wasn't. I'm sure even Organic stores garlic is irradiated.

There is actually a way to tell whether garlic has been irradiated to keep it from sprouting and that is to remove a clove from a bulb and cut it open and look for a small living sprout in its very core. Every clove in every natural bulb of garlic has a living slowly growing sprout in its very core. If you find a healthy sprout you have good garlic but if there is no sprout or a mushy sickly, shriveled, dessicated one then the garlic has been irradiated and the enzyme, alliinase, has been de-natured and cannot trigger the chemical reaction that results in the formation of allicin.

In short, look for a sprout and if you find it you have good garlic. Another way to tell is that irradiated garlic has no hotness when eaten raw but that's not completely reliable as there are some garlics that are not hot by nature.

Local farmers markets or growing it yourself are the two best ways. Right now it is hard to find because harvest time is June and July in the USA. so all that is left is last year's garlic crop or garlic grown in the southern hemisphere but that's harder to find.

Garlic powder, not garlic salt, is the next best thing.