For many years gastric/peptic ulcers were assumed to be caused by too much stomach acid and were treated with antacids, bland food or surgery. Then in 1982 it was noted that 80% or more of such ulcers were associated with a spiral bacterium named Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). It was also noted that certain antibiotics resolved the ulcers. The medical "establishment" ridiculed the finding, as they do almost every paradigm shifting break through in medicine. (Dr. Werner Forsmann and cardiac catheterization, Louis Pasteur and germ theory, to name just two.) Now the vast majority of such ulcers are treated with antibiotics.
From my studies over the last several years I am becoming more convinced every day that many, perhaps most, human maladies have a bacterial or viral origin. Chlamydia pneumoniae is commonly found in coronary artery disease. Bacteria that cause tooth decay can also cause extensive heart valve damage. Lyme spirochetes may present a wide range of symptoms from psychosis, arthritis, extreme sensitivities to normally benign environmental conditions, skin rashes and itching, liver problems and dozens more depending on where the little bugs accumulate. Even cancers are now being associated with viruses. These ideas are poo-poohed by many doctors. They have to be dragged kicking and screaming into modern medical science. (If they didn't learn it in medical school it does not exist! Don't get me started on that subject!)
Now it looks like bacterial infection, viruses, spirochetes or prions cause or contribute to many mental illnesses. This includes major depression, bipolar disorder and even schizophrenia! There have been several case studies where schizophrenic psychosis was resolved during antibiotic treatment for diseases like pneumonia only to return after the antibiotic was withdrawn. Restarting the antibiotic resolves the psychosis again!
There are problems with the treatment of brain infections. Getting antibiotics across the blood-brain barrier is difficult. More research needs to occur into the issues of treating brain infections. Apparently any insult to certain structures in the brain can trigger mental illnesses. The insult may be genetic, infection, impact (including closed head trauma, PTSD induced cortisol overabundance, etc.) chemical damage (i.e. drugs, petroleum, pesticides, herbicides such as Agent Orange. etc.) or any other event that causes abnormalities in the brain structures
Microbes and mental illness is becoming a worldwide study, much to the chagrin of many in the "medical establishment!" If I were to prognosticate on the subject I would predict that soon many cases of mental illness will be treated with antibiotics or antivirals.
Click here for an interesting article on the treatment of schizophrenia using antibiotics.
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