Athlete’s foot is a frequent infection that millions of people suffer from annually. I once had it during my military service where we had to wear boots almost an entire day. Once during a noon intercession, I performed my ablutions to pray and I placed my feet under the sunlight to dry them. I was also hoping that ultraviolet rays from the sun would be good for the infection. Soon, flies swarmed in between my toes. When I could not bear the excessive itching, I tried to kill the flies until I was stopped by a friend who reminded me of the great sage Bediuzzaman’s comments where he called flies “cleaning workers.” At that time, I also remembered Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) words on flies. So, I patiently endured the nuisance, and repeated the same procedure for the next three or four days. Eventually, my feet were healed and there was no trace of the fungi.

In one of his very interesting hadiths, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is reported to have said the following about flies: “If a fly falls into your drink, dip it into your drink, then throw it away, for on one of its wings is a disease, and on the other is a cure. It dips the wing with the disease to protect itself” [1]. This hadith has been a reason for much controversy mainly due to germ disease theory.  According to Jonathan C. Brown, “even before modern medicine, the Hadith of the Fly was raising skeptical eyebrows and prompting Sunni defensiveness as early as the writings of Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/889)” [2]. Brown also mentions that this hadith “could be false or it could be true, since scientists used the flesh of a snake to help prepare antidotes to its poison” [3].

Before the microscope was invented it was impossible to define microbes or talk about the anatomy or microbiology of flies as we can today. However, the introduction of experimentation and observation as an important scientific method with the Renaissance served as a turning point in Western scientific revolution. Thus, the “proof-based medicine” conception that relies on experimentation and observation emerged as a precursor to today’s medicinal and scientific research. The importance of perceptions that rely on causes relating to the material world in persuading the human mind cannot be denied. It is harder to make people believe in something unless they are provided with concrete results that appeal to our five senses. We should not rush to deny any claim solely based upon our preconceptions and prior knowledge without doing any research about it; rather, we should pass our judgment on it after experimentation and observation.

Some people may automatically reject the idea that when a fly falls in our food or drink that we should immerse this microbe-carrying insect completely and they may say that this would not eliminate the microbes. Indeed, it may sound reasonable to assume that this disgusting insect that feeds on all sorts of dirt would cause only diseases. If you have an ample supply of food or water and if you do not have the stomach for it, you can of course refrain from eating or drinking such a food or drink. But, you can hardly advise someone who has very little water or food in a desert or at the time of famine to throw away what they have because of a fly.

We should examine different types of flies in laboratory settings using the method of experimentation and observation. First of all, it is very difficult to prove that someone can contract an illness from eating food in which a fly had fallen into although he or she had immersed that fly completely in that food. If it is proven that someone becomes ill due to a fly’s alighting in their food, then strong objections can be raised. If it is said that there many diseases caused by flies, no one will deny it. The point is not whether flies carry germs, but whether this advice for being protected from the germs carried by flies is correct or not. As a matter of fact, the advice by the Prophet seeks to protect us from diseases that may be caused by germs carried by flies. The great scholar Bediuzzaman’s words on flies also give us an alternative perspective to consider about these “tiny birds”:

“…Flies are dutiful about cleaning away noxious substances or germs that cause disease. By sucking up and absorbing harmful germs, they destroy them, and they cause noxious or poisonous substances to change into other harmless forms, thus preventing the spread of many contagious diseases. A sign that they are both laborers for health and cleansing operatives and chemists, serving many instances of wisdom, is the fact that they exist in extremely great numbers. For the things that are valuable and beneficial are multiplied.” [4]

The hadith of the Prophet and Bediuzzaman’s commentary encourage us to explore more about flies and whether they can be a source of healing in any way.

Flies are very ubiquitous on earth. There are approximately 125,000 species of flies, but only ten species live in our homes and are of concern to us. They feed on garbage and organic waste materials that act as a breeding ground for microbes such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. The female fly lays down more than 100 eggs in the dung of some animals or in garbage. After one day, the larva emerges to feed on the surrounding organic materials. In two weeks, they become full-grown flies. In four generations, one female fly can lay 1.5 million eggs, but fortunately the majority die due to weather circumstances or become food for birds, reptiles, amphibians, and other insects. A fly can live for 60 days at most.

Given the ecological balance in nature, one comes to accept that there should be species that will remove all sorts of organic waste, garbage, dead animals or plants, and similar things by eating them. Houseflies feed on the rotting corpses of animals while female horseflies suck blood. How can flies, which act as health workers that are charged with the duty of cleaning the world, digest so many diverse amounts of garbage and waste?

Flies get their nourishment differently from other animals. What other animals do for digestion is done by flies outside their bodies. They do not have teeth-like structures in their mouths in order to chew solid, dry food and therefore have to turn such food into liquid form or split it into 0.45-mm or smaller pieces. In this liquid form, flies can easily suck up their food using their suitably shaped mouths. To do this, flies vomit a saliva-like liquid, containing enzymes and acids, and that disintegrates the solid food into something that can easily be digested in a couple of seconds. In this process, some of the microbes in that waste food can be disintegrated while the rest will be sent to the stomach.

These foods and microbes taken inside in the form of vomit are sent to a sac called a “crop” if they are not small enough to go through the digestive tract. Flies produce fresh saliva regularly during which the vomit moves between their mouths and crops. Eventually, the sufficiently liquefied food is sent to the stomach which contains enzymes and acidic content as well as partially disintegrated microorganisms.

What does scientific research tell us?

Based on the theory that flies must have remarkable antimicrobial defenses and resistance to survive the bacteria from rotting dung, meat, and fruit, a team at the department of biological sciences at Macquarie University in Australia set out to identify those antibacterial properties.

“Our research is a small part of a global research effort for new antibiotics, but we are looking where we believe no one has looked before,” said Joanne Clarke, who presented the group’s findings at the Australian Society for Microbiology Conference in Melbourne.

Clarke’s research showed that flies produce their own antibiotics, and this was tested on four different fly species. Such research may lead to better treatments for human infections from Escherichia coli and other virulent bacteria even, perhaps, Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Upon preliminary results, a global pharmaceutical company decided to support the research over the next six months by trying to isolate antibiotic compounds from the material collected from the flies. The research team is trying to identify the specific antibacterial compounds. As antibiotics that will eventually be invented and chemically synthesized come from the body surface of flies, not from other fungi or bacteria, it is believed that any gene that gives resistance to microbes will not be easily transferred to pathogens and the new antibiotic form will have longer and more effective treatment duration [5].

Later, Russian doctors had developed interest in this topic and observed that flies contain many substances that can be more effective than traditional medications and certain fly larvae have very strong therapeutic effects [6].

Noting that flies should be kept away from hospitals, Professor Juan Alvarez Bravo at the University of Tokyo expressed his support for such research, saying, “But soon we will witness a rapid treatment for many diseases, which consists of extracts from flies” [7].

Some researchers at Auburn University of the United States discovered a protein in the fly’s saliva which can accelerate the lengthy process of healing wounds and chronic skin cracking. Entomologists Ed and Mary Cupp managed to isolate the protein which houseflies inject into their prey to increase blood flow in the skin of their prey. Mary Cupp and surgeon Steven Swaim demonstrated that surgical incisions, skin ulceration, and diabetic foot lesions treated with solutions that combine antibiotics and this protein heal faster and stronger than incisions treated with antibiotics alone [8, 9].

In another study, it was found that epithelial cells forming the inner layers of the front and back intestines of the fly protect it from the bacteria it swallows thanks to a special cuticular lining, and in this way, bacteria never directly touch the intestinal epithelium and cannot give any damage to it. In this study, it was noted that people nurtured a radical approach to flies and that fly control has been abused for the sake of human health, suggesting that flies may be the source of novel germicides that make use of their antimicrobial digestive enzymes, lysozyme, and antimicrobial peptides [10].

Viruses cause many diseases in cattle, sheep, and birds. These diseases include encephalitis, aphthous fever (foot and mouth diseases), and duck plague which can be transferred to people through infected animals. Some crops such as potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, and sugarcane can also be destroyed by viral infections.

Flies carry the viruses of many diseases which are consequently transferred to man’s food, drink, and body. Of these viral diseases are common flu, measles, mumps, chickenpox, warts, yellow fever, infectious liver diseases, some cases of paralysis, some types of cancer, and some chronic diseases of the central nervous system.

El-Naggar, Zaghloul, from Egypt, indicates that some of the disease-causing viruses may directly infect living beings and cause damage to their cells, while there is a type of virus which infects bacteria cells known as “bacteriophage.” These viruses, which can kill the bacteria they infect in a short time, are known as “virulent bacteriophage.” Those viruses that do not kill the bacteria they infect are called “temperate bacteriophage” [11].

After a bacteriophage infects a bacterium, more than 100 viruses are released from that bacterium and each of these viruses can infect new bacteria. The spreading of infection may continue until all vulnerable bacteria cells die. After it was discovered that bacteriophages are parasites of bacteria, they started to be used in treating the diseases caused by bacteria. However, their use in this manner declined after the discovery of antibiotics. Yet, the interest in phage treatment was revived after the emergence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics [12].

Researchers from Stanford University announced that they found a substance in flies that can improve the human immune system [13].

The work by Rehab Mohammed Atta from the Microbiology and Immunology Department, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt, is quite remarkable [14]. In this research, the extracts taken separately from the left and right wings of flies were used against the bacteria and fungi calculated on nutrient “agar” media in the laboratory. It was demonstrated there was both bacterial and fungal growth for the left wing extract plates while no bacterial or fungal growth was reported for the right ones.

Given the fact that the garbage and rotting corpses on which flies feed from contain numerous dangerous bacteria, it is quite reasonable that it contains antibacterial materials necessary for its survival. In this case, the fly’s needs might be of service as sources of antibiotics that can prevent epidemics among human beings, and this may be the reason why they were created in the first place: not to be a source of nuisance but a source of healing for us.

Aj-Taili, et al., from the department of medical microbiology, Qassim University in Saudi Arabia, conducted an experiment using water, honey, and various fruit juices in different cups. They found no germ in the solution in which the whole body of fly was immersed while the solution in which only one wing of the fly was dipped indicated the presence of germs [15].

In sum, we can say that antibacterial materials produced in the bodies of flies protect them against the microbes in their environments and that these microbes can prevent epidemics among human beings. At the very least, this topic deserves in-depth research. Atta’s study confirms the virtue of the hadith that says, “The best way to release this vital antidote is to dip the fly in a liquid because these substances are concentrated on the outer surface of the fly body and wing.” Abduldaem al-Kaheel refers to this study in his website: “This is logical because the fly has a lot of harmful bacteria on the outside of her body and therefore in order to continue in her life, it should also carry anti-bacterial materials; these materials were furnished by God to protect it from viruses and diseases.” In the light of these studies, the need for conducting more research for obtaining antibiotics from the right wing of the fly is clear [16].

References

1. Abu Dawud, At’imah, 49. Also see Bukhari, Tib, 57, Bed’u al-Khalk 17; Ibn Majah, Tib, 31, Nasa’i, Far’, 11.
2. Brown, Jonathan A. C. 2009. Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World, p. 264.
3. Ibid. p. 255.
4. Nursi, Bediuzzaman Said. 2008. The Gleams. The Light, Inc. p. 376.
5. Danny Kingsley, ABC Science Online, 1 October 2002, The new buzz on antibiotics. Clarke, J., Gillings, M. and Beattie, A. (2002). Hypothesis-driven drug discovery. Microbiology Australia, pp. 8–10.
6. Petersburg State University, (2006). The fly effect: Russian Scientists Invent new medicine with the help of flies.
7. Bravo, J. A. (1994). The ointment in the fly: antibiotics. New antibiotic derived from a common fly. The Economist (US).
8. Ed and Mary Cupp (2005). Protein in Fly Saliva Speeds Healing of Incisions Wounds. Auburn University. R Am Ex Ars Medica, Inc., 7:23.
9. Protein in Fly Saliva Speeds Healing of Incisions, Wounds 20-Jan-2005. www.newswise.com/articles/protein-in-fly-saliva-speeds-healing-of-incisions-wounds
10. Nayduch, D. and Burrus, R.G. (2017). Flourishing in Filth: House Fly–Microbe Interactions Across Life History. Special Collection: Filth Fly–Microbe Interactions. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 2017, Vol. 110, No. 1.
11. El-Naggar, Zaghloul, (2010). Housefly Falls into One’s Drink! 09 September 2010. www.quranandscience.com/quran-science/sunnah-science/204-housefly-falls-into-ones-drink-274
12. Aydogan, D.Y., Hadimli, H.H. (2016). Bakteriyofaj Tedavisi (Bacteriophage Treatment), Etlik Vet. Mikrobiyol. Derg.; 27 (1): 38–47.
13. Stanford University Medical Center, 2007. Fruit Fly Insight Could Lead to New Vaccines. Science Daily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070308220904.htm
14. Atta, R. M. (2014): Microbiological Studies on Fly Wings (Musca domestica) Where Disease and Treat. World Journal of Medical Sciences 11 (4): 486–489.
15. Aj-Taili, S.I., A.A.R. Al-Misnid and K.D. Al-Uteybi, (2002). Wing One and the Other Disease Carrying the Cure. Qassim University. Danny Kingsley.
16. Abduldaem al-Kaheel, 1995. New facts: fly have a cure, www.kaheel7.com/eng.

Flies have two wings that are capable of moving independently from each other; these wings go back and forth on a single axis during flight. Technically, the unequal angles of the wings to the abdominal region could have prevented flight. Yet in the case of flies, this abnormal situation is not a hindrance and results in a harmonious wing stroke.

Let’s bring our palms together over our head and then lower them near our legs. How many times can we make this movement in a second? Let’s say two, three, or maybe four times if we are really quick. Flies have the ability to stroke their wings hundreds of times in just a second. There are benefits associated with this series of movements. The surface of the wings and the rear section of the head are equipped with sensitive hairs that are in charge of registering air currents and mechanical pressures and conducting relevant flight data to the brain. The unwanted effects of air currents towards the body surface and wings during the flight are detected via these hairs that house receptors. Thus, the wings are controlled according to the signals arriving from the brain. Therefore, a fly can feel an air curtain (like an insect screen) against it instantly and often times flies away. Sometimes, they also stroke their wings hundreds of times per second to avoid the negative effects of air resistance on the wings. Without these receptors and serial wing movements, the air current would stick to the wing’s surface and would not let the fly, well, fly.

Is it a fly or a plane?

We sometimes witness comparisons between the flight specifications of planes and flies. However, it is a great injustice to the fly to be put in the same basket as a plane. The products of modern technology, such as a plane, are invented after drawing inspiration from the meaningful skills of animals like a fly. It is not possible to build planes with a wing width smaller than 15 centimeters; there are disadvantages to wings smaller than that in terms of generating lift. On the other hand, flies have much smaller and more fragile wing structures (relative to their bodies) and can maintain their flight in a perfect fashion. When a fly extends its rear legs, covered with hairs designed especially for cleaning the wings, and sweeps them over its wings, doesn’t this suggest a fly is more impressive than a plane?

It challenges mountaineers!

A fly challenges mountain climbers by easily moving on the four walls and ceiling of a room – and even on slippery surfaces like glass. What is its secret?

Its ability to stand or walk on the ceiling without being defeated by gravity is possible via some of its organs. The final sections of fly’s legs are like hooks and the tip of this hook is equipped with suction pads. When flies touch a surface, a sticky fluid is secreted from the suction pads. Flies can remain suspended on the ceiling with the help of this fluid. When it approaches the ceiling, extends its legs to the front and flips towards the opposite direction of its approach, it sticks to the ceiling on its abdomen.

The grand architecture in the eye of the fly

Can you complete a jigsaw puzzle of 8000 pieces in a second without any missing pieces? It seems impossible, but let’s accept that you have. Can you fit this puzzle into an area that’s just a couple of square millimeters? It’s not possible for a man of intelligence to pass this test. However, the fly completes this miraculous task every time it uses its eyes in our rooms. We are unaware of the fact that the fly, which draws patterns of colors under the sun light, has such amazing eyes. Its eye is created to contain nearly 8000 ommatidium, which function almost as small eyes. Different areas can be seen via each ommatidium and once images are put together in the brain, the whole picture forms. Through these tiny eyes, shaped as hexagons that resemble honey combs, a fly can see as close as 2 mm – and can even see behind its body! Because of the wise hexagonal design, the ommatidia are placed in the most economical way possible; there are no missing spaces which could cause a lack of clarity. The optical speed of a fly’s eye is nearly 4-10 times faster than the human eye. Flies can see the ultraviolet section of the light spectrum and this allows them to evade predators easily in dim environments. Every time a fly uses its eyes, it’s as if it gives the message, “Look at how miraculously I’ve been created. Do you think that my creation could have been in vain?” Such complexity is an inspiration to scientists as they try to develop new technologies.

One of the features of flies that surprises scientists most is the way they use a neural network of a very limited number of neurons to perform so many complex movements. Biologist Michael Dickinson expresses his astonishment as to how a neural system of such small scale can accomplish all of these features.

Do not ever kill a fly!

Flies consume plenty of energy during flight. A regular supply of oxygen is needed to compensate for the energy they use. Air is inhaled via a constriction of the abdominal muscles when the fly lands on a surface. However, during the flight, air enters via the serial movements of the wings. Air that enters through the openings of the chitin layer surrounding the fly is transported to cells via small channels.

Flies locate their food via their smell receptors. Thus, a fly in the air easily lands on the food source that it detects. The taste organ detects whether the food is an ideal source or not. Usually, their choices of food are human foods, waste remains, and dirt. There are two tubes located in the mouth of the house fly. It sucks liquid food with one of the tubes; saliva containing enzymes is secreted on the food source with the other hose so that digestion is facilitated. A fly secretes plenty of saliva in order to liquefy the solid foods it prefers.

Flies that use dirt and waste as a nutritional source are considered as disease contracting pests. However, this is a major fallacy. Flies are actually the health officers of the ecosystem. They turn microorganisms ineffective as they take in their food; the digestive enzymes that they carry play role in completing this important task. Due to this important task, it should be remembered that killing a fly is very unfortunate. Great scholar, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, notes that flies are assigned to terminate unhealthy microorganisms and materials.

Scientists led by Prof. Andy Beattie have noticed that flies are resistant to all kinds of dirt, including from meat and manure. He said that these organisms should be super resistant to infections, otherwise they could not survive and that our work to gain antibiotics from them has been partially successful. In fact, studies focused on obtaining antibiotics from flies started in the past century. English and Swedish scientists isolated certain antibiotics from flies in 1930 and 1947. Efforts to isolate antibiotics from flies continue today.

Reproduction in black flies!

Black flies reproduce quickly. In suitable humidity and temperature, eggs start to hatch in just 10 hours. Larvae feed on liquid materials, though they need bacteria living on solid food to convert it into liquid form. Therefore, an acid is secreted inside the digestive track of the fly that can terminate most of the bacteria. Thus, the insect becomes free of bacteria, ready to fly. One fly can lay more than 100 eggs at one time and between 600 and 1000 in their lifetime. They can lay eggs again after just three days.

When looking at the information we have, it’s clear that flies are acrobatic flight masters with mind blowing features. We should abandon the negativity towards flies and contemplate the perfection of creation by considering their many remarkable skills – and working to discover even more secrets about them.

When Alexander Fleming first discovered penicillin in 1929, it was touted as a miracle drug, and at the time it was. After antibiotics became common, once-fatal infections became only minor inconveniences. But now it appears that bacteria, the target of antibiotics, are fighting back by developing resistance to the drugs that once killed them. In order to grasp how this has occurred, we need to understand a little more about both antibiotics and bacteria.

Antibiotics and Bacteria

Antibiotic literally means against life. Antibiotics are natural substances, compounds made by living organisms, which either kill or inhibit the growth or production of bacteria. The antibiotics we take when we are ill are manufactured. They have been altered or synthesized in order to enhance their potency or increase the range of the species they affect. Some antibiotics, such as tetracycline, interfere with the production of new bacteria by binding to ribosomes and thereby preventing them from manufacturing proteins. Others, among them penicillin, obstruct the synthesis of cell walls. Whatever their mode of operation, antibiotics hinder the proliferation of bacteria and allow the human immune system to overcome any remaining organisms.

Bacteria are complex one-celled organisms. Contrary to popular belief, most bacteria are necessary and beneficial. Beneficial bacteria aid digestion, decompose dead organisms, and often protect us from an invasion of harmful bacteria.

Genomic or chromosomal DNA in bacteria is in the form of a continuous strand. This circular DNA is located in a nucleoid.¹ A plasmid, another form of DNA, is an extra-chromosomal self-replicating structure found in bacteria cells. Plasmids, which carry genes for a variety of functions not essential for cell growth and normal survival, can be thought of as mini-chromosomes.

Compared with genomic DNA, which may contain 4 million base pairs, plasmids are small -they contain only 1,000 to 25,000 base pairs. A bacterial cell may contain one plasmid, many copies of the same plasmid, several different kinds of plasmids, or no plasmids. It is generally believed that DNA in plasmids helps bacterial cells to overcome the various stresses in their environment. One such survival mechanism is a gene or several genes for antibiotic resistance. Plasmids also may carry genes for virulence. For example, the severe food-borne disease caused by a strain of E. coli is a plasmid-based illness.

Reproducing and Exchanging Genetic Material

As bacteria usually reproduce through binary fission, or splitting to form two identical daughter cells, there is no recombination of DNA. However, many bacteria do exchange and then recombine genetic information through transformation, transduction, or conjugation. All three techniques have been exploited by specialists involved in the genetic engineering revolution.

When a bacterium (donor) dies, the cell ruptures (lyses) and thereby sets the cellular material free in the environment. Fragments of this naked DNA are then absorbed by recipient (host) bacteria, which incorporate and recombine it with their own. This process, known as transformation, has been exploited to produce such transgenic organisms as cows or plants that contain functional human genes.

The second method of recombination is transduction, or the exchange of genetic material by a viral carrier. Viruses that invade bacteria are called bacteriophages, or just phages by most scientists. When a phage infects a bacterium, it injects its own DNA, which then takes over the host’s metabolism and turns it into a small factory capable of assembling more phages. After it has produced a sufficient number of viruses, the cell lyses and the new phages are released and begin to infect more bacteria. If some of the host DNA is incorporated into a phage during the assembly process, an extremely rare occurrence, the defective phage still can bind to and inject its DNA into a host cell. However, it does not carry the virus’ genetic material and so cannot infect the cell. Thus it is no more than a mode of transport for DNA from one bacterium into another. As in transformation, the new DNA can be recombined with that of the host.

In the 1950s, scientists observed a third form of recombination: conjugation. This form of exchange features bacteria that are connected to each other through a tube or bridge. Donor cells carry fertility (or sex) plasmids, which allow the cell to synthesize long, thin hollow tubes called pili. The “sticky” pili bond to the cell walls of the recipient cell, and the two cells become united. A special enzyme then cuts a strand of the donor DNA, which is then transferred. Sometimes an entire chromosome is transferred and then recombined in the recipient cell. Bacteria also exchange plasmids through the conjugation bridge. This exchange is rapid and efficient. Not only do exchanges take place among bacteria of the same species, but they also cross species lines and even occur between bacteria and eukaryotic (plant and animal) cells.

Resistant Genes and Antibiotic Abuse

Resistant genes work in several ways. Certain genes prevent destruction by producing enzymes that either degrade antibiotics or alter them chemically so that they become ineffective. Another gene helps the bacteria replace the receptor site for the antibiotic, thereby preventing it from binding to the bacteria. And yet a third gene can be used to manufacture a pump that removes the antibiotic from the cell.

When antibiotics are taken, the bacterial cells that are susceptible to the drug die. But some cells may survive. Those cells then reproduce and pass on that resistance to the daughter cells. This often happens when too little of a drug is used or if it is not taken over a long-enough period. If patients do not take enough of their prescribed medication or stop taking it after a few days, they are promoting resistance. Another problem is that non-life-threatening illnesses, such as acne and chronic ear infections, often are treated with low doses of antibiotics over a long period of time. This practice also aids the development of resistant genes.

Many patients view antibiotics as a quick cure, and unfortunately doctors succumb to demands to prescribe them even if they are not necessary. Although antibiotics do not kill viruses, they are prescribed for patients who do not want to be told just to go home, rest, and drink plenty of fluid. Unless a culture is done to identify the infection, a doctor can only guess which anti-biotic to use. Increasingly stronger or broader-spectrum antibiotics are employed in cases involving unidentified infections, which can be analogous to killing a fly with a machine gun. Most minor illnesses will succumb to the body’s immune system. Furthermore, we need to remember that the symptoms being treated are the body’s reaction to invasions by pathogens.

In many developing countries, antibiotics are available without prescription and are taken inappropriately. Some pharmaceutical companies offer doctors bonuses and gifts for every prescription they write, and so antibiotics are overprescribed.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) reports that over 40 percent of all antibiotics produced in the U.S. are given to animals. Low doses of antibiotics are routinely fed over the lifetime of meat-producing animals to promote growth and improve feed conversion. This practice creates a perfect environment for the development of resistant genes. One example, which already has produced dire consequences, is the emergence of a strain of salmonella that is resistant to several antibiotics commonly used to treat it.

Antibiotics are routinely sprayed on crops to treat and prevent disease. Although bacteria that invade plants are not harmful to people, many are related to those which cause such food-borne illnesses as E. coli, salmonella, and shigella.² If plant bacteria develop resistance, they could pass it on to bacteria that infect humans. There also appears to be evidence that we acquire resistant bacteria from our food. One researcher, Denis E. Corpet of the National Institute of Agricultural Research, has discovered that the amount of resistant bacteria humans obtain from food is quite significant. When his volunteers went on a diet of bacteria-free food, the quantity of resistant bacteria in their feces diminished by 1,000-fold.

Merri Moken, a student in Morristown, NJ, found that bacteria quickly developed resistance to common household disinfectants. The consequences of the proliferation of new anti-bacterial soaps, steering wheels, sponges, toys, and toothbrushes that we have seen in the past few years could be quite serious if it is causing an increase in resistance.

Solutions and Conclusions

The first step in combating resistance should be to reduce the number of antibiotics used for treating illness. When possible, doctors should identify the pathogen before prescribing antibiotics. Patients should complete the full course of antibiotic treatment by taking all of their medication instead of saving some for later. They also should not demand these drugs for colds or minor infections. Second, developing countries should enact legislation to control sales of antibiotics without prescriptions.

Another important step is a drastic reduction in the use of antibiotics in agriculture. Routine feeding of antibiotics to meat-producing animals needs to be prohibited. Some European countries, Sweden for example, have banned the use of these drugs for growth promotion. Consumers should demand antibiotic-free meat. The practice of spraying fruit and vegetable crops, even though they are not infected, also needs to stop, and consumers should be encouraged to wash all produce thoroughly in order to remove bacteria and antibiotic residues.

Consumers need to consider the consequences of overusing disinfectants and anti-bacterial products. Generally, washing your hands with ordinary soap is all that is necessary if we have been exposed bacteria in public places. Perhaps more education on the necessity of bacteria is another solution.

Finally, new antibiotic drugs need to be developed so that we will continue to have a last line of defense against resistance genes. Other research designed to improve our understanding of all of the mechanisms of resistance could perhaps result in a new family of drugs. In our ever-shrinking world, it has become essential for us to consider the significance of our impact on other organisms, including bacteria. Bacteria were created with a purpose and are indispensable. So let’s stop waging war on all of them. We need the susceptible bacteria as our allies against those which are resistant

Footnotes

1. Plasmoid: The part of a bacterium or virus that contains nucleic acid and is analogous in function to the nucleus of a eukaryotic cell.
2. E. coli: A bacillus (Escherichia coli) normally found in the human gastrointestinal tract and existing as numerous strains, some of which are responsible for diarrheal diseases; Salmonella: Any of various rod-shaped bacteria of the genus salmonella, many of which are pathogenic, causing food poisoning, typhoid, and paratyphoid fever in humans and other infectious diseases in domestic animals; Shigella: Any of various nonmotile, rod-shaped bacteria of the genus shigella, which includes some species that cause dysentery.

References

• Ambile-Cuevas, et.al. “Antibiotic Resistance.” American Scientist 83, no. 4 (Jul.-Aug. 1995).
• “Antimicrobial Resistance: An Ecological Perspective.” American Society for Microbiology. (1999). Online at: www.asmusa.org/acasrc/pdfs/Antimicrobial rpt.pdf.
• Center for Disease Control Antibiotic Resistance Page. Online at: www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/antibioticresistance/default.htm
• Center for Science in the Public Interest Antibiotic Resistance Project. Online at: www.cspinet.org/ar/index.html
• “Chemotherapy of Bacterial Infections.” Online at: www.life.umd.edu/classroom/bsci424/Chemotherapy/Chemotherapy.htm
• Copet, D. E. “Antibiotic Resistance from Food.” New England Journal of Medicine, 318 (1988): 1206-7.
• Davies, Julian. “Bacteria on the Rampage.” Nature (Sept. 1996): 219-20.
• Levy, Stuart. “The Challenge of Antibiotic Resistance.” Scientific American (Mar. 1998): 46-54.
• “The Microbial World.” Univ. of Edinburgh. Online at: http://helios.bto.ed.ac.uk/bto/microbes/penicill.htm
• European Commission Directorate B-Science and Health Opinions. “Opinion of the Scientific Steering Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance.” (1999). Online at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/out50_en.pdf
• Seachrist, L. “Infections Making a Deadly Comeback.” Science News (20 Jan. 1996): 38. “Types of Antibiotics and Related Resistance Genes.” Online at: http://biosafety.ihe.be/AR/ ARmenu.html
• Washington State University Microbiology. Online at: www.wsu.edu:8080/~hurlbert/pages/Chap9.html

The media proclaims globalization’s advantages and disadvantages. Money flows from international lending institutions and TNCs to developing countries. Children receive an education, parents have better job opportunities, families benefit from improved medical care, and local farmers and industrialists can sell to an ever-expanding market. Countries begin to develop and climb out of debt, the quality of life improves, and children imagine a better future.

There are certain drawbacks, however. Those affected negatively sometimes seek refuge in intense nationalism or religious fundamentalism. Closer economic integration brings financial uncertainty and trans-border problems. Remember the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98? Over time, borrowed money can strangle a poor country, as in Africa. Development projects change people’s lives-and not always for the better, as illustrated by Mexico’s on-going Zapatista rebellion. National development policies can affect a region’s climate and, in the case of China with its huge population and rapid industrialization at the expense of its environment, the global climate.

Globalization has even changed our concept of time. Never has “time is money” been so accurate. Time has become an asset to be exploited, no longer a luxury to be enjoyed. Everyone wants to manage it better, to control it so that the hoped-for benefits will be attained. Now people say that the world is no longer divided between the haves and the have-nots, but between the fast and the slow.

The growing access to and use of antibiotics has spawned new drug-resistant bacteria, which means that antibiotics are becoming less effective. Moreover, some nations and groups are exploiting the wide availability of the experts’ increasing medical and technological knowledge of bacteria to produce biological weapons. Without religion’s assertions that all life is equally valuable and sacred, and that we must work together to uplift everyone, one day such weapons might be used.

To understand the advantages and disadvantages of such interconnectivity, we must analyze its impact upon our selves and our lives. This is one of the purposes of reflection and self-criticism, for these practices show us where we fit in. Many people use these tools to pursue corporate, political, national, or personal interests, whereas many others use them to pursue interfaith dialogue in the hope that tolerance, understanding, acceptance, and cooperation will spread around the world.

But the real value of reflection and self-criticism lies in helping us relate to existence and the Divine, as well as to nature and others, so that we may prepare for our own resurrection and eternal life. Once we understand that such issues remain relevant, regardless of time or place, we realize that religion was not invented by “primitive” people to explain what they could not understand.

We hope that you enjoy this issue and, as always, look forward to your comments.