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Bacterial Resistance

Infectious diseases were dealt a knockout punch in the 1940's, when antibiotics came into use.

Antibiotics fight bacteria, but don’t affect viruses. It’s important to distinguish between the two. Viruses are very tiny strands of genetic material which can reproduce, but require the presence of a host to survive. They cause illnesses like colds, flu and AIDS. Bacteria are single-celled organisms that, unlike viruses, can reproduce independently of a host and cause such dangerous illnesses as meningitis and tuberculosis.

Antibiotics prevent the reproduction and growth of bacteria in a variety of ways. But bacteria mutate easily, and those with an ability to resist antibiotics survive and reproduce more successfully than others.

The race between bacterial resistance and new antibiotics is a close one. Some potentially fatal infections have now developed resistance to almost all our effective antibiotics. The situation is made worse when patients stop taking antibiotics as soon as they feel better, instead of finishing them all. This leaves a few bacteria lurking in the body, and when they reproduce, they give rise to a higher percentage of strains that have an ability to resist antibiotics.

So next time your doctor prescribes antibiotics, be sure you really need them and make sure you finish them all.

Discerning the difference between viral and bacterial infections makes all the difference in the treatment advice your doctor will give you. Any amount of antibiotics will not make a dent in a viral infection.

When we move beyond matter, we see a similarity in the way some of us turn to mood enhancing substances, both licit and illicit, to deal with soul pain. Of course just as there is a legitimate use of antibiotics to fight bacterial infections, there is a legitimate use of many medications prescribed by doctors to deal with physiological problems that have psychological manifestations.

The catch comes in psychological discomfort or “soul pain” which has no physiological basis. There is a strong tendency for us to turn to medication, either professionally- or self-prescribed, to help us cope. The fact is, no amount of mood altering or enhancing substances will ever make a difference in the underlying problems we’re trying to deal with.

Recognizing the true source of our pain and dealing with it appropriately is far better in the long run than medicating the symptoms.

If one accepts the premise of an intelligent designer and creator behind the material universe, it would be worth looking at our soul-pain in light of that.

One of the greatest sources of dissonance in our lives comes from the discrepancy between the values we say we hold and the behaviours we engage in that betray those values. Most anthropologists talk of mores held by “tribes” from the most primitive to the most advanced. There is a sense of justice and right and wrong. Some of this is culturally shaped, but the fact that it is there at all suggests that it is part of who we are as human beings.

God has provided a way for us to forgive ourselves when we disappoint ourselves, for us to forgive others when they offend us, and for them to forgive us when we offend them. Most importantly, there is a way for God to forgive us when we fall short of the standards He has revealed through our consciences and through written revelation. Knowing we are right with God has a powerful healing effect on our psyche. It is an important first step in becoming “whole” as persons.

David Humphreys and Ron Hughes
© August 2004