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Chapter 15

How To Beat
Viral Infection

Before we can consider the action that we can take to prevent germ infection or a viral infection such as SARS - we have to first of all take into account a few of the major factors that have led to a situation where all too many people in our world have weakened immune systems.

If you have not already read the article, Sugar - A Major Cause Of Immune Deficiency, then the following is going to make a whole lot more sense if you do so at this point in time.

While SARS is caused by a virus (or so they say), and while antibiotics do not destroy viruses or even limit their development, we need to understand the role that antibiotics and other drugs have played in weakening the human immune system, and in encouraging man to depend on chemical intervention instead of concentrating on the maintenance of his natural immune defenses. With such an understanding, we will better appreciate the action that needs to be taken to ensure that our immune system is able to combat germs and/or viruses such as the SARS virus.

For many years, thinking scientists have been warning that the use and the over-use of antibiotics would result in ever more virulent bacteria that will eventually be antibiotic resistant. In an interview with the New York Times way back in 1945, Alexander Fleming warned that the misuse of penicillin could lead to the selection and multiplication of mutant forms of resistant bacteria.

Almost 40 years later, the same warning was still being sounded, this time by the World Health Organization (WHO).

`Antibiotics are being misused by GP's and hospital doctors, says the World Health Organization. It warns that routine administration of drugs is encouraging microbes to build resistance so that when antibiotics are needed in urgent cases, they won't work. Some 50 percent of antibiotic use was inappropriate and up to 60 per cent of hospital patients might be having them unnecessarily.' (Here's Health, February, 1982., p.8)

The fact that the WHO issued such a warning proves that Alexander Fleming's advice was not heeded, while the fact that antibiotics are still freely prescribed, and often inappropriately prescribed and over-prescribed, proves that the WHO's advice has also not been heeded. As a result, we find ourselves in a situation where ever more potent antibiotics are being developed to counter germs that are becoming ever-more virulent and ever-more antibiotic resistant.

In the light of the following, it would appear as though this situation is unlikely to change.

`In the United States the Network for Continuing Medical Education conducted a test designed to measure the level of knowledge about antibiotics among physicians. Analysis of the first 4,513 responses to the test showed that the majority [of physicians] displayed a potentially dangerous degree of ignorance, and those physicians who saw the most patients per day had the lowest scores.' (Dr A. Melville & C. Johnson, Cured to Death, p.176)

The medical industry, however, is only one of many industries that have leaned heavily on the use of antibiotics. Besides being used as a preservative in food, all too many farmers today - probably the majority - feed antibiotics to their cattle, sheep and chickens - and this by the "truck load" - which means that consumers of dairy and of flesh foods could well be receiving a daily dose of antibiotics.

`Antibiotics such as the tetracyclines are used to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria in poultry, fish and canned foods.' (Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol.19:341; 9:684)

`Antibiotics are used both to combat disease and to stimulate growth. As a result, it is alleged, people who eat [flesh foods] regularly have found these drugs ineffective when they themselves are ill.' (Zoe Richmond-Watson, The Use and Abuse of Animals, p.27).

This may be hard to believe, but even an "innocent" glass of apple juice can be a source of antibiotics.

`Patulin is an antibiotic produced by several species of Penicillium and Aspergillus bacterial mold. Animal experimentation showed it to be not only toxic but carcinogenic (cancer forming). Patulin is present in rotting apples and has been found in commercial sweet apple juice. (P.M.Scott, W.F. Miles, P. Toft, and J.G. Dube, "Occurrence of Patulin in Apple Juice", Journal of Agricultural Food Chemicals, 20:450, 1972.)

[Yes, may I add that a friend of mine often visited a reputable apple juice manufacturer and he was horrified to see pallet after pallet of over-ripe, fermenting apples - many of which had fermenting apple "syrup" dripping down their sides. These were not reject apples, but the very apples that were used to press the apple juice. I simply cannot imagine how they manage to remove the worms from these fermenting apples before juicing them?]

While we cannot deny the fact that antibiotics have saved many lives - we do need to realise that they come at a cost - a cost which has often been fatal. For example:

`Sulphonamides [a form of antibiotic] have been in use for over 40 years and this has been long enough for a formidable array of adverse side effects and toxic reactions to be well documented. Besides positive dangers to diabetics, porphyrics, kidney disease sufferers, some of the allergic reactions include rash, fever, hepatitis, agranulocytosis [a drug induced disease marked by high fever, lesions of the mucous membrane and a decrease in granular white blood corpuscles], purpura [small hemorrhages into the skin], and aplastic anaemia [failure of bone marrow to produce red blood cells]. One research finding revealed that of a group of patients who took antibiotics, 16 percent of them were suffering from irrepairable kidney damage five years later.' (Ian Wiseman, PE Technicon, Druggists Digest, No 1/85, p.2)

[With reference to the last sentence, you can bet your life that when the majority of these poor people died from kidney failure some five years after taking Sulphonamides, the cause of death is unlikely to have been ascribed to antibiotics.]

As a direct result of widespread antibiotic use and over-use, therefore, and largely as a result of the medical establishment's failure to teach the public that "a pound of prevention is worth an ounce of cure," we now face a situation . . .

• where stronger and stronger antibiotics continue to cause the development of ever-more virulent strains of bacteria, and the situation is only getting worse. As Dr John McKenna warns . . . `It is clear that we are facing a potentially disastrous situation. An infection that is untreatable by present means is now a real possibility. It's only a matter of months, or a year or two at most, according to some microbiologists,' (Alternatives To Antibiotics, p.13)

• where antibiotics that enter the body from various sources are doing the work that our body's natural defenses should be doing and, in very simple terms, our immune systems are thus being robbed of the "exercise" that they need in order to be "strong,"

• where the public have learned to depend on curative medicine instead of on a preventive lifestyle and diet and, as a direct result, only a small minority of people work at caring for their health and at actively boosting their immunity, while the great majority live as they please, eat as they please, and then depend wholly on medical intervention when they fall ill.

With time, the immune systems of those who choose to live as they please will become weaker and weaker. They will eat freely of sugar, which is known to reduce the bacteria engulfing ability of our white blood cells, they will ignore their daily need of sunlight, rest, water and a proper diet and lifestyle, they will take antibiotics freely - oblivious of the fact that antibiotics can reduce our white blood cell count (agranulocytosis), and they will use tranquilizers and other drugs that are also known to reduce our white blood cell count.

`The phenothiazines [tranquilizers such as Largactil, Thorazine, Stelazine] are one of the most common pharmacological causes of agranulocytosis (loss of white blood cells).' (Dr A. Melville & C. Johnson, Cured to Death, p.158)

Then, when a virus such as SARS comes around, these poor people are an easy target. Their bodies will be backed up with mucous and toxins, they might well be constipated, their eliminative organs are probably malfunctioning, their vitality is probably at an all-time low, and in all likelihood their immune systems are hopelessly deficient and totally incapable of dealing with a virus such as that which causes SARS.

Ignorance has prepared them well for the slaughter. Just think of it, our immune systems are already so compromised that the great majority of the world's people cannot even overcome a microscopic little germ or virus?

And the sad truth is that medical science must take a sizeable proportion of the blame . . .

• wherever she has failed to educate the masses in regard to the true nature of disease . . .

• wherever she has failed to emphasize the importance of a balanced lifestyle and a whole food diet . . .

• wherever she has failed to emphasize the part that we as individuals have to play in boosting our immune systems . . .

• wherever she has failed to recognize and teach that faulty lifestyle and dietary habits (that lead to a toxic system and a compromised immune system) are the primary causes of infection - not germs and viruses,

• wherever she has inappropriately prescribed antibiotics . . .

• wherever she has failed to condemn the widespread use of antibiotics in agriculture and food production.

Please note that we are not saying that antibiotics are the only reason our immune systems are weakened, nor are we saying that there will not be times when antibiotic treatment would constitute the treatment of choice. What we are saying, however, is that the use of antibiotics can be positively dangerous, that the use and over-use of antibiotics in the past has not been in the long-term interests of the world's people, and that if ever there were a time for the inhabitants of this planet to get serious about right living and eating habits, it is now - before it is too late.

Even if the SARS virus is brought under control, we have very good reason to believe that there are more virulent viruses and more resistant germs to come - and our best defense is going to be our natural defense, that being an immune system that has been fortified through right eating and living habits.

Where To From Here?

Thinking people the world over have realized that these are extremely serious times. Society is crumbling, unrest is everywhere, our food, our air and our water are all becoming more and more polluted, sickness is epidemic, and in most parts of the world inflation and debt are slowly strangling the life out of all but the very wealthy. It's almost as though the long-standing predictions of Scripture are finally fulfilling all around us.

`But mark this: There will be terrible [terrorism?] times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.' (2 Timothy 3:1-4)

Have we not arrived? Have we not arrived at a time when money is determining the direction of almost everything - including the direction of medical research and medical activities?

The sad truth is that medical science is spending millions and even billions on the development of drugs and new medical technology - all aimed at diagnosing sickness and/or at suppressing the symptoms of illness, - but what is being spent on teaching people how to live so that they do not fall ill in the first place?

The problem being, of course, that big money cannot be made out of health education programs. The sad fact is that even more money can be made in the absence of such programs . . .?

Even now, with SARS causing fear throughout the world, you will notice that the attention of the masses is being focused on a "new vaccine," one that will no doubt have dubious efficacy but will make some company extremely rich. In the meantime it's out with the face masks, and the disinfectants, and "crowd control" measures . . .

But who is telling the world that their immune system is their best defense against germs and viruses? who is teaching people how they can boost their immune defenses through wise eating and living habits? who is telling the world that direct exposure to sunlight (ultraviolet light) increases the white blood cell count and improves the body's ability to deal with infections? who is telling the world that direct exposure to sunlight also stimulates interleukin-1 (IL-1) production, which in turn boosts the immune system by increasing the number of T-Cells in the blood and by encouraging them to reproduce?

So, my dear friend, if your local medical establishment is not telling you that you need more than just disinfectants and a face mask in order to pull through the coming crisis - we wish to emphasize the point that while face masks and disinfectants have their rightful place, it is what is behind the face mask that is of utmost importance - it is your immune system that is ultimately going to give you the victory over infectious threats.

If ever the SARS virus becomes a problem in my country, I will put an ounce of trust in face masks and a pound of trust in my immune system - provided, of course, that I keep working at reinforcing my immune defenses.

Starting today, therefore, I invite you to start working at improving your lifestyle and your diet - get a daily dose of sunlight, drink two glasses of water an hour before every meal, eat natural foods and avoid refined foods, exercise moderately every day, as far as possible avoid stress, cut out refined white or brown sugar and all other junk foods, and let health be one of your primary goals in life - for without health all else is meaningless - and without health you really have no reliable defense against germs and viruses.

Do not allow yourself to believe that disease is always simply a matter of bad luck, hereditary factors, or genetics. Other than in very exceptional cases, disease is the evil that fills the void when health is in short supply - it's as simple as that. Which means that you can keep your life "filled up" with health - and your health will be your greatest defense against disease.

If all that is stated above has motivated you to take steps to erect a wall of immunity around your life, then the following suggestions constitute a good place to start. Good luck - please feel free to email us if you need help.

Proceed To Chapter 16: The chapter following is a tabular representation of the much acclaimed Nature's Way program.

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