INTERESTING FACTS

                      A DISEASE THAT CAN WIPE OUT EVERYONE        

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Since the beginning of time, Mankind has been facing deadly pathogens which are infectious microorganisms that include a bacterium, virus and even a fungus. In the Sixteenth Century, the Plague (the Black Death) killed millions of human beings. In the second decade of the Twentieth Century, a specific kind of flu killed off more millions of human beings. 

Candida albicans, a usually benign strain of yeast that is found in the human digestive tract. In a healthy person, this fungus is held in check by beneficial bacteria, or probiotics that cohabitate in the intestinal tract. When poor diet and/or antibiotics come on the scene killing off the beneficial microbes, then this normally innocuous yeast takes advantage and rapidly spreads. If no attempts to repress it and bring the gut back into balance are made, it can wrest control of the gut environment from the beneficial microbes.

Over time, if leaky gut issues develop, Candida overgrowth can literally spill into the bloodstream via perforations in the intestinal wall. From there, yeast can colonize other tissues of the body presenting as the following very common symptoms:

Nail fungus, Skin infections, Yeast infections, Chronic peeling   skin on feet, Chronic bladder infection problems, Thrush, Dndruff, Chronic fatigue and  Fibromyalgia.

Many people rely on antibiotics as a crutch when they get sick. Frequently these meds are used even for conditions where they shouldn’t such as ear infections or viruses like the common cold.

The good microbes (probiotics) are killed off along with the pathogenic bacteria causing the illness. Patients get better fast but at a huge price. Candida albicans gains a quick advantage, eventually becoming dominant if an unhealthy lifestyle is continued. Steps can be taken to repair the gut after antibiotics, but the vast majority of people don’t do it. Worse, most doctors don’t even mention the need for it when the script is handed out. Incidentally, the birth control pill unbalances the gut environment too according to Natasha Campbell-McBride MD. Most women taking it are completely unaware of this long term threat to their health.

The decades old pattern of antibiotic overuse is exactly how superbugs like MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)  and Clostridium difficile (C-Diff) got a foothold. A few isolated cases here and there, and now these superbugs seem to be everywhere. Infection with just MRSA affects 90,000 people per year and kills 20,000 in the US alone. This data is provided by the MRSA Research Center based at the University of Chicago.

Now we are facing a really deadly pathogen called Candida auris that can kill everyone on Earth and it has no known cure. It is not a bug nor a virus. It is a fungus.

The symptoms of a fungal infection will vary depending on the type and severity of the infection. Many symptoms can include itching from  a painful rash, pustules, vomiting and a fever. The  symptom of systemic yeast infection is a skin rash causing irritation. These rashes can appear anywhere on the body especially in the area of the groin because that is the hottest area of the body.  Some common locations for babies include around the baby’s mouth and diaper area. The rashes are painful but can be treated with a cream that is placed over the rash.

Fungi comprise of microbes that are usually saprophytes that consumes dead organisms. Fungi are the most common cause of diseases in crops and other plants. The typical fungal spore size is 1–40 micrometers in length which is very small.

There are several pathways through which pathogens can invade our bodies. The principal pathways have different episodic time frames, but soil has the longest or most persistent potential for harboring a pathogen. Diseases in humans that are caused by infectious agents are known as pathogenic diseases, though not all diseases are caused by pathogens.      

One sure way of getting this deadly fungi into your body is to be near someone who is suffering from that deadly fungi and sneezes near you and you breathe into your body his deadly fungi. That unthoughtful person who chose not to cover his or her nose with a handkerchief has just set in motion your inevitable death.             

In just seven years, Candida auris has spread throughout several developed countries, which has scientists referring to it as a ‘worrisome, globally-emerging pathogen’.

The main concern of medical scientists with respect to Candida auris is that it is multi-drug resistant. This means it has evolved to a point where it cannot be controlled by drugs or other anti-fungal treatments. Worse, it can spread throughout healthcare facilities such as hospitals and clinics very quickly, infecting everything and everyone in its path.

Candida albicans remains the most frequently isolated Candida species in the clinical setting. But some countries have reported a marked shift towards species of Candida with increased resistance to antifungal drugs. These include antifungals that such as fluconazole (Diflucan), the standard antifungal drug of choice in many countries, and more recently introduced antifungals known as echinocandins.

Several other species of Candida, such as Candida tropicalis, Candida glabrata, and Candida parapsilosis, are well-recognized pathogens in different geographic locations. Candida auris is a new addition to this list.

We’re still learning a lot about how Candida aurous is spread, but something we do know for sure is that Candida auris can colonize in patients’ bodies. What’s interesting about Candida auris is that it seems to colonize on human skin, and that’s different from most species of  Candida that mostly colonize in the gastrointestinal tract. Colonizing the skin allows the patients to shed the organism more into the healthcare environment, which gives this fungi the potential to spread. The organism seems to persist in the healthcare environment for quite a long time.

Obviously, anyone whose skin is colonized by this kind of fungi can spread it about when his or her dead skin flakes off their bodies and floats in the air. I don’t know if you know this but when you are in a room and the sun is shining in the room, those hundreds of specks you see floating in the air of the room are flakes of dead skin. So if any of those flakes of dead skin are covered with this particular deadly pathogen, you are going to die within a day or so.  

The growing threat from antibiotic resistant superbugs such as MRSA (pronounced mur-sa) started to garner blazing media headlines starting back in 2007.

n 2010 alone, MRSA killed 19,000 people, sent 7 million people to the ER worldwide, and cost $8 billion in medical costs, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Since then, infections caused by methicillin-resistant  Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA have continued to prove deadly and, more dangerously, extremely contagious. With conventional antibiotics and questionable treatments such as  bleach baths baths proving to be futile in most cases.      

 Since the discovery of Candida. auris, this species of super yeast reportedly originated in Delhi, India, with 12 affected patients in 2 hospitals. It was first identified in Japan in 2009. Since then, it has spread across the world in a matter of a few years. There have been ongoing breakouts in London and New York. In addition, the fungus has been diagnosed in South Korea, Japan, Kuwait, Kenya, Pakistan, Venezuela, and Israel. How long will it be when it moves into your community?

I can envision what took place in the Sixteenth Century when the number of the dead was prolific. Carts were being dragged along the streets with those pulling the carts yelling, “Bring out your dead.” And like what happened in those communities,     eventually, nothing will be heard in your community but the wind.