The Immune System is a complicated network of cells and bio-chemicals that act as a defense system for our body. It's job is to seek-and-destroy all foreign invaders (invasive viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, allergens etc.). This includes seeking out the results of breaks in the DNA chains that lead to abnormal cell divisions that becomes cancer and even metastatic cancer. All too often it takes a serious illness or a diagnosis of cancer before many of us think about our health or our immune system.
Through sophisticated testing, it has been postulated that 98% of North Americans have a compromised Immune System. The many things in today's society that chip away at our vitality,( i.e. our immune system function) include poor nutrition, infections, toxins, trauma( viz .ionizing radiation) and stresses of all forms.
All serious and chronic illness is due to immune system dysfunction. This applies to such conditions as:
...and the list goes on and on. In the US, about 1.2 million new cases of cancer will occur this year and 1 in 3 people will get cancer in their lifetime.
Infectious disease is the #1 cause of illness in North America, and it is the #1 cause of death world-wide. The problem is becoming much worse due to the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. This alarming trend has been picked up by the lay press, and cover stories have appeared in Time, Newsweek, Forbes, Business Week, Discover, US News and World Re port, and National Geographic.
The use, overuse, and injudicious use of antibiotics has been the primary cause for this antibiotic resistance problem. The resultant infections with these "super bugs" have led to the emergence of old diseases long since conquered, and more and more emerging or new diseases. Many people, including doctors, do not appreciate that antibiotics kill good as well as the bad bacteria. Such therapy weakens the host immune system especially if there was no bacteria causing the problem (e.g. a viral infection). This situation has been compounded by the same overuse of antibiotics in the dairy, beef, and poultry industries. That is, antibiotic resistant bacteria pass through the food chain from the contaminated or infected animals consumed by the human.
The increasing incidence of Asthma in children is multi factorial, but it is clearly linked to earlier in life exposures to antibiotics, earlier weaning, early introduction to foreign protein (esp. cow's milk) and solid foods, chemical pollution in the air, water, and foods (additives, preservatives, pesticides ,etc). Al so, there probably is a genetic component because of the higher incidence of asthma in children among African-Americans (and they are 4 times more likely to die during an attack than a white child).
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© 2001, Fred Walsh 
