FROM where do I begin? Dr. Robert Koch? My two nephews, brothers from the same womb, who died three years from each other, of tuberculosis of the spinal bone which ate up their livers? Or, from a growing tuberculosis scourge which makes Nigeria Africa’s most hit nation and places her as the world’s forth devastated community?
I was only 13 and a boarding house student of Ibadan Boys High school when I first learned about tuberculosis. Some of my seniors and room-mates at Okuseinde House may remember this story. Three of them I remember well are Dr.Yemi Ogunbiyi who slept in the upper bed of our double-bunk bed, Mr. Adesola Oni (aka Of Egbado) and Mr. Waidi Suberu, who was the best Latin student in his class. I remember him because I hated Latin which he spoke eloquently as if he was born and bred in Rome. Our boarding house routine was disturbed the day the news broke that one of the boarding house students nicknamed Ashante Peur (Ashanti boy) tested positive to tuberculosis. His was an only case discovered in a routine check on all students. Yet it was enough to plunge the school into such confusing that many parents came to take their children home. Ashante Peur was sent home for some time to quiten nerves while his parents took care of him. And when he returned, he did as a day student.
I have told this story to underscore the attention which the school system of my time gave to the health of children at school. Nowadays, it is doubtful if students are routinely sent to general hospitals in batches to discover if anyone had a communicable disease, and to nib the problem in the bud. Kindergarten and primary school children may be coughing in class nowadays without the teachers caring a hoot. Even at the work place, there is a tendency to patch up discoveries. I recall that when I was Editorial Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Comet newspaper, we ran into such a case which the Union wanted the management to gloss over. He was a nice fellow and diligent. But we all ran the risk of going under with him if we merely allowed him to be going to hospital for treatment while he kept his job. I solved the problem by letting him off for one year on full pay with the promise that his job would not be given to someone else. Hospital treatment does not take more than one year, all things being equal. And he returned to us a healthier, more physically robust person.
My nephews
The first nephew to die of tuberculosis did not suffer any of those cough and blood-in-sputum symptoms. His back was aching. His wife, an orthopaedic nurse, massaged the back with a hot towel and liniment. But the pain soon grew so bad that he could no longer sit up. Later hospital tests confirmed tuberculosis of the spine which soon spread to his liver. His eyes, skin and nails became yellow. He died. Three years later, his younger brother died in similar circumstances, this time not in a teaching hospital but at a prayer camp. Many members of their family were shocked. Tuberculosis was often associated with cough and other outward symptoms. This time, it struck like a thief in the night.
Dr. Robert Koch
This German doctor is, arguably, the conqueror of tuberculosis. I was introduced to his work on this killer disease in 1967-68, through “O” Level Health science, taught in my school, Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, by Mr. S.O. Kolade (aka S.O.K). The syllabus demanded that the student study five killer diseases which included Cholera, Tuberculosis, Malaria fever, Bubonic plague and small pox. The study of these diseases exposed the student to the life and work of its conqueror, and to those of researcher Louis Pasteur, who propounded The Germ Theory and pasteurisation as a means of dealing with them. These diseases were pounding, decimating killer diseases in Europe the Century before. Thus, we learned, for example, of how Dr. Edward Jenner developed vaccines against small pox which was killing Europeans by the millions every year. Folklore taught European that whoever suffered from cow pox could never suffer from small pox. So, Dr. Jenner experimentally injected eight-years old James Phillips, first with cow pox and, three months later with tuberculosis bacteria. The boy did not fall ill. Dr. Jenner received wide acclaim. But when he experimented with his 18-month-old son, the boy suffered neurological brain damage and died of tuberculosis at the age of 21. James Phillips also died of tuberculosis at the age of 20. Undeterred, Dr. Jenner produced a new generation of vaccines which he said were better. But these were ridiculed as “injections of death”. (They may very well be. For, nowadays, childhood vaccination are linked to the growing cases of all kinds of cancer). He persisted nevertheless and some countries accepted him. In 1979, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared small pox eradicated from the face of the earth.
Dr. Robert Koch was the German microbiologist and physician who identified the germs which cause tuberculosis, cholera and Anthrax. Two weeks ago, the World Health Organisation observed March 24 as World Tuberculosis Day in his honour. That was when it emerged that tuberculosis was still on the rampage in some countries, including Nigeria, which is the most affected in Africa and was the world’s forth biggest cesspool of tuberculosis.
This disease remains the second biggest killer, accounting for 1.8 million deaths in 2015 and 10.4 million people falling ill according to James MCIntosh. Tuberculosis is spread from person to person through physical contact, droplet infection or by touching whatever an infected person has touched. About one-third of the World’s population is believed to be infected in either of two ways. This may be ACTIVE or LATENT infections. In active infection, the sufferer comes down with such symptoms as persistent cough, fever, weight loss, weakness, night sweat and lowered immunity. In latent infection, the patient is symptoms free.
Nigeria’s situation
It is not surprising that Nigeria is the worst hit in Africa and the forth tuberculosis prevalent nation globally. Many factors account for this. Latent tuberculosis converts to active tuberculosis under certain conditions prevalent in Nigeria. Tuberculosis thrives among malnourished, stressed, careless people and immune depleted people. Many Nigerians may fill their stomachs till they become rotund, but they do not eat well and are, thus, malnourished. The food of many is largely junk. When they experience pain, there is an easy resort to pain killers which drain the immune system of glutathione, a natural basic antioxidant which is not replenished through supplementation in the diet. To worsen matters, the consumption of refined sugar in soft drinks is high. Stress is taking its toll. Unemployment, job losses, poor pay, owed salaries, rising prices and the likes of them shatter the inner peace and stability of many people. Carelessness has a big hand in this as well. Ordinarily, a cough which goes beyond two weeks ought to be reported to a doctor. Many Nigerians do not because they cannot afford hospital bills. We eat in all sorts of places where the people who attend to us are not periodically certified health fit to do so. We love “pounded yam”. This is pound in a mortar by people who sweat profusely in the process. Sometimes, they wipe sweat off their faces, with bare hands, then wipe these hands on their dresses. With these hands, they test the “pounded yam” in the mortar for table readiness. Dish washing fares no better. So does food service. As food is dished on the plates, the person doing so keeps talking to other people, with a risk of the dished food being droplet infected. We shake hands without caution, and do not wash our hands with soap and water before we eat with bare hands. My nephews died of tuberculosis at a time it was reported there was scarcity of veterinary doctors at the Lagos abattoir. Veterinary doctors are expected to certify cows free of tuberculosis and other diseases before slaughter. If there are not enough of them, diseased cows may pass for the slaughter. Many dead cows end up in Suya (barbeque).
Immunity remains the biggest asset in all disease conditions. Louis Pasteur’s Germ Theory would appear to have been overtaken by this concept. It does not successfully explain, for example, why two persons of similar backgrounds are exposed to the same germs and one caves in but the other does not. What would appear to do is the level and sagacity of their immune responses. Tuberculosis is one of those opportunistic diseases which strike in HIV Scenarios. This suggests that tuberculosis cure, like the cure of any disease, should start with the revamping of the immune system, and the revamping from detoxification. Among many health authorities who have led the way in this regard is Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, who changed the paradigm of medicine with his thoughts on water, hydration and dehydration, all of which are captured in his Books, Your Body’s Many Cries For Water, You’re not sick, You’re Only Thirsty, and Dehydration, Stress and Cancer.
In your Body’s Many Cries For Water, Dr. Batmanghelidj writes about his own experiments in which he says the amino acid CYSTEINE was decisive in reversing AIDS cells in test tubes to normal cells. You should appreciate the importance of CYSTEINE from two articles in www.olufemikusa.com titled: CELLGEVITY, SENIOR CITIZENS AND THEIR PECULIAR CHALLENGES.
Dr. Batmanghelidj
He says in YOUR BODY’S MANY CRIES FOR WATER:
“In a series of other experiments, when IL-6 and another similar substance (TNF- Tumour Necrosis Factor) are added to a cell structure medium that contains cells with the ability to produce the virus, particles labelled HIV are extruded. If, before the addition of IL-6 or TNF, CYSTEINE is added to the same culture medium, HIV particles are not produced. Thus, there is a direct correlation between HIV production and in AIDS and amino acid content of the virus-growing cell. It seems on the face of it that AIDS patients are victims of an imbalance in their bodies amino acid composition. If they could correct their protein metabolism, they might be able to survive, and their bodies may be able to produce sufficient resistance to fight other acute infections. Afterall, even for the manufacture of antibodies to defend against other bacteria, the body needs the basic amino acids ingredients in their correct proportions.
“It is unfortunate that we are looking at the virus and not seeing the physiological imbalance in AIDS patients. It is also unfortunate that we do not understand the supportive metabolic role of IL-6 to the cortisol releasing mechanism and IL-1 production. These agents, and others in their pack, are produced to mobilise primary raw materials from body reserves to fight stress and repair possible damage caused by having confronted any particular stressor. Their function is designed around breaking down proteins held in the muscles of the body and converting them into their basic amino acids for their use in the liver. So, the general direction in severe stress-damage is to mobilise the essential ingredients for their emergency re-use-a process of feeding off the body itself.”
Dr. Batmanghelidj’s arguments go on, robust and beautiful. He suggests that necleic fragments of broken muscle tissue are what virologists claim to be HIV and AIDS and that, in the presence of CYSTEINE, they disappear, postending disappearance or reversal of so-called HIV and AIDS. This repair mechanism, evidenced in post-surgical healing or the healing of spirits injuries for example, is a classical example of ‘ROBBING PETER TO PAY PAUL’. In stress or sickness, the body borrows proteins or steals proteins from the muscles, to repair damage elsewhere. That is why patients look leaner after surgery or during an illness than they did before. But would this robbing Peter to pay Paul be necessary if the patient is fed all the 23 amino acids through diet supplementation? It would certainly not be necessary, and recovery would be faster, according to the hypothesis of Dr. Batmanghelidj which Alternative Medicine adopts in the prescription of a greens diet or dietary supplementation and the consumption of WHEY protein, for example.
Cysteine
Before I return to tuberculosis, I wish to briefly retell the Cysteine story. It is one of the three amino acids (Cysteine, Glutamate and Glycine) which the body needs to produce GLUTATHIONE, one of the body’s three basic or primary antioxidants (Glutathione, SuperOxide Dismutase (SOD) and Catalase). They destroy free radicals which damage the cells, cause premature aging, degenerative disease and invite infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. Of the three amino acids needed to produce Glutathione, Cysteine is the most difficult to deliver to the liver because stomach acid digests it too much to have much value in the cells. Thus, many people do not have enough of it, especially in old age or illness. So, efforts have been made to dress it up protectively for safer and more wholesome delivery in the cells. As Dr. Batmanghelidj has educated us, HIV and AIDS patients need it. So do everyone in health or disease, such as tuberculosis, to shore up immunity. One of the earlier efforts to “protect” Cysteine from stomach acid resulted in N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) and a few years ago in Cellgevity, which would appear to be more potent than NAC. So valuable has Cysteine been found now that it has become an ingredient like Vitamin C, N-Acetyl Carnosine and other antioxidants in eye drops for dissolving eye cataracts and reducing intra-occular pressure of glaucoma.
Tuberculosis cure
As stated earlier, the following therapy goals or objections are desirable:
- Detoxification •Mineralisation •Immune boosting
- Nurture •Oxygenation •Damage repair
Detoxification
This is the process of ridding the body of all or of most of those toxin accumulations of many years which made the body acidic, rather than slightly alkaline, toxic and a breeding ground for germs of all sorts. Immune function crashes in this environment due to all sorts of factors, including low enzymes and hormone output and poor cell signalling. Many factors are involved in the toxicity and may include even heavy metal overload featuring Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Iron et.c. In the pack which delimits immunity would also be bacteria of all sorts, fungi, candida et.c. We may begin with Golden Seal root therapy. It would involve taking it for no longer than one week in two weeks over a three-month period, at the end of which a PROBIOTIC formula is taken to help repopulate friendly bacteria in the colon which may be lost in the course of “battle” with tuberculosis. In the rest periods within the “one-week-on, one-week-off”. Golden Seal Root therapy, fillers such as Grape Seed Extract, Black Seed Oil, Garlic and Colloidal Silver may be introduced. Their entry helps to disoriente or confuse the tuberculosis bacteria so it doesn’t adjust to Golden Seal Root. In any case, this root is difficult to adapt to. It is a Berberine-containing herb, which makes it prevent adherence of germ to tissue. It coats the mucous membranes to prevent germ adherence to tissue. When germs cannot adhere, they cannot derive nurture from tissue to grow their own population and, so, are weak and easily knocked out by immune fire. The liver and the kidneys, like the bloodstream and the lymphatic system have to be purged as well.
Mineralisation
Our diet in Nigeria is short on minerals, and many of us do not take mineral supplements. Taking greens with the diet helps to mineralise us and turn acidosis to alkalinity. Our sources of Mineralisation include, but are not limited to, Moringa, Baobab, Lemongrass powder, Wheatgrass, Barley grass, Spirulina, Kale, Chlorella, Asparagus and Cilantro. Asparagus clears up the urigenical system of even UTIs, fights cancer and free radicals among other functions which are beneficial as well to the prostate gland, nowadays the health waterloo of many men. Cilantro is one of the best cleansers of the Kidneys. Chlorella extracts heavy metals. So does Cilantro. Wheatgrass has been shown to reverse gangrene and build immunity. Spirulina, like all these greens, has a large Chlorophyll content which kills germs and cleanses and heals.
Immune boosting
The greens boost immunity in various ways, none the least of which is their wide band of amino acids. I believe they can be complemented with Zinc, NAC and CELLGEVITY, Vitamin C (up to three to six grammes daily), Vitamin A (the water soluble type), mushrooms (Maitake D-Fraction, Shitake et.c) and Orange peel which clears and nourishes the lungs and the respiratory system.
Others
To these belong nurture, oxygenation and damage repair. The greens provide the nurture. Perhaps we can add Whey protein. The greens provide oxygen, too. They also help with damage repair through Cysteine, as Dr. Batmanghelidj has shown, Zinc and Vitamin E, to mention a few.