Originally published November 3 2005
UK researcher proposes alternative measure for fighting MRSA
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Researcher Mark Spigelman has published a study in the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons that proposes alternatives to antibiotics in hospitals, where drug-resistant bacteria have become so prevalent in the last few years.
Mark Spigelman of the University College London Centre for Infectious Diseases and International Health is calling for a study in hospital units that would see antibiotics banned and alternative health protection measures explored.
Spigelman's paper, published in the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons, says the time has come to re-evaluate using antibiotics and scrubbing hands and wounds with antiseptic soaps.
His paper includes a six-point proposal to set up surgical hospitals that would be antibiotic-free and instead comply with novel practices being investigated.
"Inappropriate use of antibiotics remains a major problem, despite our ever-growing understanding of how bacteria behave.
For example, any student who has grown bacteria in a lab will know that they generally do not grow on top of one another.
So when we wash our hands, we could actually be killing off harmless commensals to the extent that we leave space for other bacteria, such as MRSA strains, to settle.
"Perhaps we should be thinking about using probiotics and even dipping our hands after thorough washing into a solution which contains harmless bacteria, which could then colonise our skin and prevent pathogenic bacteria from settling on it.
To overcome the current epidemic of MRSA and other bacteria, we should aim to set up a handful of hospitals where the use of antibiotics would be banned, and any patients who needed them would be transferred to an antibiotic-using hospital.
"At the same time we could trial the benefits of using 'good' bacteria to saturate the skin on doctors' hands and even patients' wounds prior to surgery, to see if this would prevent the settling of pathogenic, antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
For instance, a surgeon who has spent the morning repeatedly scrubbing his or her hands in an operating theatre may well have got rid of many harmless skin commensals.
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