Two Generations of Epidemics in Diseases: One Controlled, the Modern Epidemics Are Still on the Loose
First generation of disease epidemics are caused by germs; the second generation are caused by free radicals and derivatives
First generation of epidemics
We have learned of bubonic plaque, cholera epidemic, rabies epidemic, tuberculosis, chicken pox, small pox, malaria epidemic, Spanish flu pandemic, polio epidemic.
All these have been practically conquered with antibiotics or vaccines. It all started with the discovery that all of them are caused by microbes by the pioneering work of Edward Jenner (small pox), Louis Pasteur (rabies) and Robert Koch (tuberculosis), and Fleming (penicillin).
Koch formulated the Koch’s postulates that can identify the causal microbe.
Pasteur developed the germ theory of disease (1841-44). It took the medical profession 40 years to adopt this theory.
Dr. Thomas Francis, Jr. and Dr. Jonas Salk used killed virus to come up with the vaccine against the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 25 million people all over the world in 1918-19, including 44,000. American soldier deployed for combat in Europe in WWI.
Dr. Jonas Salk modified the killed-polio virus vaccine (1948 to 1954) to conquer polio. In 1952 about 57,000 Americans were afflicted with polio. The Salk vaccine was launched in 1955. (I have a Hub on the track record of polio in the United States and the development of Salk vaccine).
Once in a while, there are still outbreaks of flu epidemics, malaria and cholera. But these outbreaks are owing to lack of sanitation, lack of vaccination, lack of campaigns to eradicate vectors like in the case of malaria that is transmitted by anopheles mosquitoes.
However, there are some problem areas in viral diseases like hepatitis B, hepatitis C and D, and HIV. These are caused by microbes alright but virus cannot be killed by antibiotics. Vaccine fail to eliminate them. Hepatitis A is no longer a problem because the immune system of a fellow who had been infected can eliminate the virus once he gets well. But that is not the case with hepatitis B, C, and D. Some remnants of their virus remain in the body of the fellow who had been infected and got well from them. Carriers of their virus can infect other people in the household who run the risk of getting sick of cirrhosis and cancer.
There is some promise though that infusion chelation therapy can eliminate hepatitis B. Dr. Arturo V. Estuita, MD, A Filipino internist and chelationist has successfully treated hepatitis B patients by means of chelation therapy. So far, Dr. Estuita has treated 10 patients since March 2012, he told me.
If the hypothesis of how infusion chelation therapy as I have proposed works then this therapy might be applicable to hepatitis C and D. I have a Hub “A medical breakthrough in the control of hepatitis B by chelation therapy.” There is some rays of light that chelation therapy will also work on HIV.
The second generation of epidemics
Some of the second generation epidemics are heart disease, cancer, stroke, hypertension, and diabetes. Causes of these diseases are unknown to conventional medicine. Risk factors had been identified that lead to them. But prevention methods, and treatment based on risk factors had been hit-and-miss. Practically, conventional medicine has no cure for them. Treatment means a disease is alleviated but it will recur. Cure means a disease is made to go away never to recur.
Let us look into examples of treatment. High blood pressure (hypertension) can be lowered by a drug but it will recur once provoked by a stressor like a demanding boss. Heart disease (hardening of artery that results in less blood flow, angina and sometimes heart attack) can be alleviated by medication but heart disease will stay for life if the victim is not killed early by heart attack. A fellow with blocked arteries may be given heart artery bypass but another artery may develop plaque.
Risk factors of heart have been identified like smoking, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, lack of exercise, age and high level of cholesterol. But reducing any of them or their combination does not ensure cure.
One observation about these second generation epidemics is that in early centuries they practically did not occur at all. At the time that tuberculosis was an epidemic there was practically no incidence of heart disease or cancer.
Another common sense observation is that microbes are the causes of the first generation epidemics.
What are the causes of the second generation epidemics? Conventional medicine has forwarded risk factors as associated with them. However, risk factors are not causes.
Another observation about these second generation epidemics is that lifestyle is associated with them. For example, smoking that results in heart disease, emphysema and cancer. Consumption of saturated fats is associated with hypertension and heart disease. Consumption of meat preserved with nitrite is associated with cancer, stroke, hypertension and heart disease. Living near garbage pits results in hypertension. Workers who produced nuclear weapons die of leukemia. Children who were exposed to the radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant when still fetuses die of leukemia. A lot of Japanese who were contaminated by the radioactive fallout of the atomic bombs exploded over Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan died of leukemia long after the explosion. Refined sugar deplete chromium in the body; insulin needs chromium to attach to cells for it to drive sugar into cells thus prevent exacerbation of diabetes. The ultimate cause of diabetes are free radicals that kill cells of Islet of Langerhans that secrete insulin. Consumption of refined sugar itself exacerbates diabetes and brings about hypoglycemia. Mass production and storage of food for fast food chains need preservatives that produce a lot of free radicals. Energy drinks constrict arteries resulting in angina. Coffee constricts arteries also resulting in angina. Coffee exacerbates hypoglycemia. Fast pace of modern life brings about stress. Consumption of pain relievers damage the stomach and kidneys. Cooking destroys enzymes and vitamins in vegetables and fruits contributing to nutritional deficiencies and susceptibility to diseases.
One common sense observation of the above mentioned occurrences is that these diseases are anthropogenic. That is they are brought about by man/woman.
Found along with these occurrences are free radicals and their derivatives called reactive oxygen species (ROS). Lifestyle has brought about an imbalance between free radicals and the built-in antioxidants of the body that result in second generation diseases. Free radicals and ROS cause injury to cells of the body that in many years develop as disease. It takes about 10 years for an injured cell owing to mutation in DNA to develop into cancer. It takes about 10 years to 40 years for a mutated cell in the inner wall of an artery to develop into heart disease.
It takes several years for arteries hardened by free radicals and ROS to develop hypertension that may graduate into stroke.
Barriers in the conquest of second generation epidemics
One of the barriers is that conventional medicine does not recognize free radicals and ROS as causes of disease. I have several Hubs on this topic,
Another barrier is that conventional medicine is blocking holistic medicine in its efforts to conquer these diseases. It is protecting coronary artery bypass surgery, a billion dollar industry. The alternative, chelation therapy, is much more effective, non-invasive and less costly; chelation will make bypass surgery obsolete. The same fate would befall angioplasty.
Another barrier is that Big Pharma in addition to its own efforts cajoles conventional medicine to block alternative means of treatment and cure of these diseases. The main reason is that their market for conventional drugs would shrink.
More than any peoples in the world the Americans know the barriers as follows. American Medical Association that accredits doctors; it will not accredit any doctor who does not prescribe drugs produced by Big Pharma. Schools of medicine that teach health professionals, including doctors. Food and Drug Administration that approves drugs produced by Big Pharma. Publications like books and journals that publish results on tests of drugs, some tests are rigged. Health professionals who learn the efficacy and effectiveness of drugs from Big Pharma.
Other barriers are the insurance system or the health maintenance organization (HMO) that have joined Big Pharma and conventional medicine in blocking integrative medicine. Insurance and HMO will not pay for integrative methods. Big Pharma gives big discounts to HMO.
The policies and practices in the US are being copied by developing countries that is why their worldwide impact.
There are several diseases caused by free radicals and ROS: arthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, lupus, motor neuron disease, multiple sclerosis, emphysema, and the so-called auto-immune diseases.
I have a Hub "New Theory of Rheumatic Heart Disease" where I elaborate the mechanism of auto-immune disease.
Meanwhile the victims of free radicals and ROS will suffer or incur big expenses to alleviate second generation epidemics.
Autoimmune disease (optional reading)
Given that rheumatic heart disease is seen in the framework of germ theory of disease whose one component is the immune system. Here, conventional medicine says that the immune system attacks the microbes and infected cells, misidentify some parts of the body and attacks them as well. This may be called the misidentify version (Clayman, C., Jr. MD. Editor. Your Heart. 1989). In another version, some parts of the body are "self" and other parts are called "not-self". This is proposed by Dr. Dean Ornish, MD in his book "Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Disease" (1996). However, the misidentify concept is unreliable. No treatment or cure had been successfully developed based on it as shown by the lack of control of rheumatic heart disease (prevention or reversal of stenosis). in conventional medicine any disease identified as autoimmune is tantamount to saying that the cause of this disease is unknown. The self-not-self concept is based on dialectical metaphysics. Dr. Michael DeBakey, MD and Dr. Antonio Gotto, Jr. MD say that it is probably an allergic reaction to the bacteria that causes rheumatic fever long after the patient had gone well of this fever, in their book "The Living Heart" (1977).
In the free radical framework of disease, free radicals are indiscriminate and attack both the microbes, infected cells, and healthy cells in the vicinity. Healthy cells are scarred that graduate into stenosis in heart valves that allow back flow of blood or insufficient valve closure.
Hubs on chelation therapy by conradofontanilla:
http://conradofontanilla.hubpages.com/hub/Why-Is-Heart-Disease-The-Number-One-Killer-In-the-World
http://conradofontanilla.hubpages.com/hub/What-For-Is-A-Theory-of-Heart-Disease
http://conradofontanilla.hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Treat-Stroke
http://conradofontanilla.hubpages.com/hub/What-Would-I-Do-If-I-Had-a-Heart-Attack
