As per the report of the Centre for Disease Dynamics Economics and Policies 30 crore people will die due to antibiotic resistance till 2050. In Bharat annually 60000 little children die due to antibiotic resistance.
1. What is antibiotic resistance ?
Antibiotics are medicines used to kill bacteria. Every organism struggles to save itself. As part of this bacteria too change their structure for protection from antibiotics. That is precisely why after sometime these medicines become ineffective.
2. Why does resistance to antibiotics occur ?
Though the causes are several due to limitations of time I shall put forth only three main causes presented in this report.
A. Several allopathic doctors prescribe antibiotics even for viral infections such as cough and cold. Using medicines for bacteria against viruses is misuse. No one pays attention to this in the process of getting fast relief from symptoms.US FDA has given a detailed report on this on its website.
B. Self-medication with antibiotics, without supervision from a physician.
C. Eating the meat or drinking the milk of animals administered antibiotic injections.
3. What is the solution to this ?
A. As far as possible eat vegetarian food. Focus on eating organic fruit and vegetable. Use milk of the Indian cow rather than the Jersey cow. This is because Indian cows are mostly not administered antibiotics so there is no possibility of it being excreted in the milk even in small quantities.
B. Do not become your own doctor. No matter which path of medicine it is self-medication is always dangerous.
C.If you fall sick then first consult an Ayurvedic physician practising pure Ayurveda. This may be followed by Homeopathy. Nowadays it has become a fashion to treat children with cough and cold, fever, diarrhoea etc. with antibiotics. Here long term loss caused by use of antibiotics is clearly visible.
4. Seek timely help from Ayurveda
Antibiotics should be the final and last resort when everything else fails.It is just like not using an atom bomb to kill a mosquito. If Ayurvedic help is taken on time then you will not need to use allopathy for minor ailments. Till date no solution to the major problem of antibiotic resistance has been found but there is hope.
– Vaidya Parikshit Shewde, (M.D. Ayurveda), Dombivali (The author is a specialist and lecturer in Ayurveda.)