Beyond Antibiotics

"Beyond Antibiotics" offers practical solutions to a serious modern day health dilemma. At a time when emerging infections and antibiotic-resistant bacteria are rising sharply, the supply of new antibiotic drugs has been steadily decreasing. In addition, many in the health industry have failed to consider that our bodies are cloaked in a blanket of bacteria so pervasive that the bacterial cells outnumber our 'human' cells by a factor of ten. In short, we are living in a microbe's world and we cannot escape the fact that the potential for untreatable serious infections is very real. Author Michael A. Schmidt proposes a personalized medicine approach to address this health situation. He suggests that we must move beyond antibiotics in our thinking and instead focus on strengthening the host; we must begin to think of ourselves as a 'human-microbe hybrid'.In other words, we must take action to raise our defences, while preserving the integrity of the microbial elements that live on and within us. Drawing on a vast body of research from several scientific fields, Schmidt presents a strategy of personalized medicine that can be used to build and balance the system of immune defence and repair. Schmidt has devised a set of general recommendations that can be used to tailor programmes to individuals seeking to support health maintenance, prevent illness, fight active acute or chronic infections, and foster recovery from infections.