Stocking the Arsenals of the Future
Bacteria, Viruses, and Disease:
Microorganisms, often called germs have up until recent times had a stigma attached to them. They weren't really segregated into bad or good but were all considered "undesirables" - something we just had to live with. Microorganisms as a group contain members of many families, both plant and animal, and are the most varied forms of life on earth.
True bacteria occupy a position somewhere in between plant and animal kingdoms and in some ways serve as a link between the two. Viruses, on the other hand, being composed of pure genetic material and not able to reproduce themselves directly, represent a link between the living and the non-living. All microorganisms are usually associated with the spoilage of food, heating and fermentation of our good hay, fermentation of alcoholic beverages, and of course, infectious diseases.
With the dawn of antibiotics, "sterile" became the word of the day. Antibiotics are produced by the normal metabolism of certain molds and bacteria. Penicillin was the first to be discovered in 1929, and since then whole families have been discovered and produced. They were used for just about every disorder and disease, and for a while, these "wonder drugs" lived up to their reputation.
Antibiotics were routinely prescribed for colds (even though colds are caused by viruses and immune to antibiotics) supposedly to prevent secondary infections. They were also used to control many communicable diseases and virtually eradicated some. Later they were added to animal feeds as a precautionary measure, too. Here, sub-theraputic doses were used to constantly kill everything in the gut. Feed conversion efficiency was increased, making it cheaper to produce quality meats for market.
All went well for a while, but then certain problems began to be noticed. Indiscriminate use of antibiotics let to situations - mostly unanticipated - that are just now rearing their ugly heads. The center of focus is drug resistance (translation: what do you do when you have a serious infection in which the culprits are drug resistant?)
Backfire
Most bacteria are killed by the first encounter with antibiotics they are sensitive to. But some bacteria remain and they are able to produce certain enzymes to inactivate and destroy the antibiotic. They are what we call "resistant". We now know that special organs, called organelles in microorganisms, can carry genetic codes necessary to control and order the production of destroyer enzymes. These special organelles are called plasmids.
Researchers have intensively studied plasmids of Salmonella and E. Coli, two intestinal disease producing bacteria or pathogens of both man and animals, and found that plasmids coming from strains in man could not be distinguished from those in animals. They were identical.
Researchers also found that these plasmids could be passed from one bacterium to another, conferring antibiotic resistance to each other and thereby promoting survival of drug-resistant strains. They could even be passed between bacteria of different species, as from nondisease to pathogens. And, to complicate matters even more, multiple transfers of more than one plasmid were seen to occur, transferring resistance to several drugs at one time.
The real backfire came, though, when it was further found that under the pressure of antibiotics, there was increased pressure for resistant forms and also for increased levels of resistance. So when the farmer encountered a real disease, higher (therapeutic) levels of antibiotics wouldn't work because under the pressure of lower levels he was using, plasmids had begun to transfer rapidly and resistance already was evident. For this reason, England banned tetracycline, a broad spectrum antibiotic used in human medicine, some twenty five years ago for use in animal feeds and some other European countries restrict it.
Toxicity of low levels of antibiotics in feeds should also be considered. They have been found to accumulate in the liver and other vital organs. The life expectancy of meat-producing animals is not great and length of exposure time relatively short, so that toxicity may not be readily apparent. But with horses, which we wish to keep well into their twenties, the story may be different.
A Mad Tea Party
The intestines of all living things, man included, have both good microorganisms (beneficial) such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, and Lactobacillus bifidus, and bad ones (pathogens) such as Salmonella typhimurium, Staphlococcus aureus, E. Coli, and Colstridium perfringens all of the time. These armies wage a constant war with each other to keep a balance. When the bad guys win - that is, when they significantly outnumber the good guys, certain health problems result.
Stress to the host, in the form of breeding, racing, poor nutrition, or sudden ingestion of large quantities of feedstuffs that the digestive system is not used to, can change the gut's pH and other environmental factors to favor growth of pathogens. Diarrhea is the most common result, but colic, laminitis and subsequent founder can also develop. Recent studies have found that these pathogens produce endotoxin-potent antigenic poisons which stimulate the host to produce antibodies and sometimes trigger allergic reactions.
These endotoxins, which cause symptoms such as fever, leucopenia, circulatory problems, and hyperglycemia, are implicated in laminitis, founder and colic in horses. The metabolism of these pathogens is different from that of beneficial bacteria, and their waste products also include carbon dioxide (gas) and alcohol - one argument for not feeding live brewers yeast to horses.
Pass the Ammunition
Certain microorganisms, especially Lactobacilli, can positively influence gut ecology and microbial balance by crowding out and killing enteric pathogens. Healthy numbers of Lactobacilli can influence many host responses such as better nutritional status, faster healing of the intestinal mucosa, better immunological response and resistance to disease, and better response to endotoxins.
These microorganisms also produce natural antibiotics against the pathogens making it impossible for the pathogens to produce their endotoxins. They have been found to degrade nitrosamines, potent carcinogenic substances, making them harmless. They also produce a variety of nutrients in excess of their own needs which are made available to the host on a continual basis, like a "timed release capsule". Among these are B complex vitamins, vitamin K, and digestive enzymes, which further extend digestion and make nutrients available that the host cannot do on its own to manufacture some essential amino acids and proteins.
One testimony as to the microorganisms' effectiveness in regulating gut ecology is a frequent sequel to antibiotic therapy - a yeast infection of Candida Albicans. Seen primarily in children as skin eruptions and in some as vaginal and urinary tract infections, it is certainly not pleasant. Normal intestinal tract bacteria which had been keeping the villains in check had been killed off by an antibiotic given for some other problem, leaving the yeasts, which are generally not susceptible to antibiotics, to grow unchecked. Many physicians in turn prescribe antifungal remedies with Lactobacillus or probiotics cultures to re-establish the natural order of things. Eating yogurt and acidophilus milk is also recommended for chronic recurring infections.
Studies on germ-free animals show that they normally have a low immunologic response, a low resistance to disease. When these animals were innoculated with probiotics cultures, levels of immunologic response (disease resistance) went up. Cancer patients under chemotherapy often show symptoms of Vitamin B deficiency because of the toxicity of chemotherapeutic agents to normal bacteria. Yogurt is very beneficial here too.
Another application of probiotics cultures is in baby formulas. Supplemented babies were found to grow faster than non-supplemented ones. Travelers' diarrhea has also responded to probiotics, and some new evidence is coming in showing a positive effect on high cholesterol.
Probiotics cultures are available to us in the form of unpasteurized yogurt, and, for those who can't stand the taste of sour milk, dried cultures in capsules and sweet acidophilus milk.
As for our animals, there are very few products on the market now which contain live cultures specially encapsulated to activate in the intestine. And as with all new and innovative ideas, there are imposters, which take the form of dried fermentation solubles, brewers yeast, fermentation extracts and industrial wastes and by-products. They are good supplements for B vitamins but not a true intestinal innoculant or live pure culture. Contamination by undesirable chemicals is also possible, since they are not manufactured expressly for feeds. Reading the labels is important.
I have successfully used probiotics cultures on foals with diarrhea so bad the foals were considered hopeless, as well as adult horses, puppies, pigs, cows and human infants. The founder cases of course, need extra doses daily for the rest of their lives due to abnormal intestinal conditions that predisposed them to founder caused in the first place by any number of things. Cost is nominal and it is the best insurance that I know of. Changes in diet are also helpful, reducing carbohydrates that pathogens thrive on, while maintaining proteins. High-protein grains in small amounts are recommended.
An Interesting Note: some space scientists are now advocating Lactobacillus pills for astronauts because prolonged space travel appears adversely to affect the microbial balance of the intestinal tract and antibody-producing systems. Perhaps the old centurion in the Dannon yogurt commercial is right after all; probiotics are demonstrating themselves as microbial arsenals of the future.
© 2011 Vita Royal Products Inc.
