Understanding Staph & MRSA Infections
Have you read or heard about a dread disease that causes a rash or an open skin wound that cannot be healed and can often spread in a scary way. MRSA (pronounced "mur-suh") stands for Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. This term is something of misnomer because pharmacists do not manufacture Methicillin any longer. We can suffice to say that MRSA is a bacterial infection for which there is no fully successful antibiotic. To better understand this infection we must ask the question: What is Staph and what is its nature.Staphylococcus, or Staph, is a common bacterium that is found on our skin and is part of our normal environment. However, there are around 40 sub-groups and some are not so friendly. Some are treatable with antibiotics and others aren't. Staphylococcus fits into a group of bacteria called Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB). Yogurt contains LAB and we thrive with it in our intestinal tracts. These bugs assimilate (eat) glucose, or sugar, giving off lactic acid and uric acid. The nasty member of this group of lactic acid bugs is Staph Aureus because it thrives at our expense and is not easily treatable with antibiotics.
About 25% of the population test positive for Staphylococcus Aureus in the nose and throat when cultured. The reason most have no problem is that their immune system is holding it at bay. But MRSA has a special ability to protect itself from our immune systems and from antibiotics. Its strategy involves the enzyme Catalase, which works to catalyze the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen. Why is that a problem for the host? Let's say you start to develop a MRSA infection on the lower leg. Even before you feel any symptoms your immune system detects the invader in a location where it should not be and starts to fight back. Your immunity cells, called killer T cells, protect you by killing bacteria. These cells produce two main weapons against the Staph infection, hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide. As humans we thrive on oxygen, and oxygen in the form of hydrogen peroxide is what our killer T cells defend us with. The MRSA bugs are able to defend themselves in this hostile environment by producing Catalase, an enzyme which neutralizes the hydrogen peroxide.
At this point our bodies can resort to the back-up defense system, which is to turn up the temperature. The MRSA infected patient will often develop a fever and it can persist as a flu-like state. If the temp. continues to rise and the antibiotics fail to get control of the infection the patient is in danger of sepsis, a dangerous state in which the bugs find their way into the blood or tissues causing toxic overload to the organs resulting often in septic shock. The liver and kidneys are trying to clean the blood but can't keep up with the invader and its toxic byproducts. The body can't handle the magnitude of the toxicity so it shuts down. This is what the doctor fears and wants to prevent at all costs when he admits the patient into the hospital and places him/her on IV antibiotics.
Most MRSA victims never experience a dangerous fever or go into sepsis. Instead, it is far more common for them to develop a local rash. When the rash continues to persist or grow that person finally goes to a doctor. The infected tissue is cultured and in the meantime the patient is placed on oral antibiotics. When the culture comes back positive for staph aureus the doctor commonly is thinking that this bug is confined to the skin. But the same battle is happening inside this patient that happens to the febrile patient except that his immune system gives up more easily. Since staph aureus is a blood- borne bacterium the organism is likely in the blood supply around the rash. This explains why it can spread so rapidly in some patients. According to medical dogma this patient should be quaranteed because he is contagious. One medical article referred to frequent hand washing as a prevention for MRSA. This is pure ignorance. Typically, the person who has had MRSA for years has been sleeping next to his/her spouse who has not contracted the disease. Probably, most hospital workers know this fact. Why do some people get MRSA while others do not? Secondly, once infected, why do would one person's immune system put up a hard fight and another person hardly knew they were getting sick?
The reason some people are prone to getting MRSA and others are not is something called pH, which stands for "percent Hydrogen". It is a measure of acidity. The more full of hydrogen, or acidic, we are the weaker will be our Killer T cells. The measure of our internal health is oxygen versus hydrogen, and we need to be full of oxygen to be healthy. The more hydrogen in our bodies the less room for oxygen. Every number you subtract from the pH scale is 10 time more acidic than the original number. A pH of 5 is 100 times more acidic than a neutral pH of 7. The sick spouse in our example is just more full of acidic toxicity than the well, resistant spouse.
The true cause of MRSA, a staph aureus bacterial overgrowth, is the unnatural world we live in. If your pH is off, as it is in our highly acidic, processed food environment, opportunist bacteria and other organisms can take over. Take away the acidity and the food source, sugar, and watch your Killer T immunity take over. A person with MRSA is basically toxic with hydrogen acidity. If that person will start a low carb diet, such as the Adkins (and there are others), and move away from processed foods, he or she will begin to feel better INCREDIBLY SOON.
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