I am a mother of a two-year-old and am completely losing my head over whether I should get my little cherub vaccinated? The questions that keep me busy are whether I should believe “Big Pharma” and the medical advice passed on for ages that says vaccinations are a must for fighting against germs that cause disease in our bodies or take a more holistic view which posits that germs are not the cause of disease but an unhealthy internal ecosystem.

I am also a seeker of answers to bigger issues related to disease- Are germs the sole cause of dangerous diseases or they have been given credit for too much? Or in short, are germs our real enemies?

This is the reason why I decided to delve deep into the ‘germ’ dogmas that require an urgent re-look.

The Germ Theory

Most of us have heard of the French biologist Louis Pasteur. He was the scientist who postulated that germs cause disease. He,in fact, came up with the Germ theory in the 1850s which is a simple story about germs and how we “catch” bacteria and viruses which make us sick, and how this has to be prevented assiduously through medicines and vaccines.

The Germ theory sets us on a tangent that tells us that germs are our enemies and they have to be killed at any cost for us to remain disease-free.

The problems with these postulations are staring us in the face now, after centuries. We have antibiotics that are failing, vaccinations that are being linked to autism in kids… And this is just one part of the story.

Image credit:geralt via Pixabay

The Germ theory has also made us ignore another very vital issue. We have completely overlooked the role of the internal ecosystem in causing disease.

In India, ancient systems of healing talk in detail about a germ- causing ecosystem in the body due to the collection of toxins or “ama”, being responsible for various diseases.

Wherever "ama" gathers, disease follows- this is an overarching principle of ancient systems of medicine.

But, look where we are today. We have ignored tried and tested basic principles of health and wellbeing, forgotten the importance of generating a healthy ecosystem in our bodies by preserving healthy PH levels and helping more beneficial microorganisms to grow, in favour of a system that makes us more and more unhealthy.

Yes, Germs Are Not All Bad

The truth is that some species of bacteria are needed to keep us healthy. These ‘good’ bacteria present on our skin, in our airways, and in our digestive system act as the first line of defence against pathogens that can cause infections.

Bacteria also help keep our immune system in good shape so that it can respond quickly to an infection, but not over-react and attack our body itself causing autoimmune diseases.

Each of us has millions of bacteria personalized according to our body ecosystem living inside our bodies, called the microbiome.

We get our first bacteria while being born, and we add to the microbiome every day of our lives in order to live healthily.

Béchamp, a contemporary of Pasteur proposed something called the “host theory,” which supports the idea of “good” bacteria.

According to this theory, people don’t “catch” germs that give them diseases, but, disease-causing germs are actually opportunistic and thrive on people whose bodies have an unhealthy internal ecosystem.

This means that germs are not a cause of disease, but a byproduct of a disease.

Germ theory’s downfall is that it attempts to over-treat chronic diseases with drugs. It, along with Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin spawned a culture that focuses on fighting germs and disease with antibiotics and drugs through vaccination and overuse of antibiotics. This, as we know today, isn't just destroying the bad bacteria, but is also wiping out the good bacteria which keep our immune system robust and leaves us even more susceptible to new diseases in the future.

We got to where we are today- perhaps the unhealthiest than we ever were- because we believed all the bad things we heard about germs. We are thus caught in a loop where we have to develop new ways to kill superbugs without doing anything about our unhealthy biosystem that creates disease by spawning these powerful pathogens inside our bodies.

The question is whether learning about healthy eating and medicinal foods should be a priority or should we keep ourselves locked into a search for the next best antibiotic for the coming centuries too?

We all know that we can heal our bodies through healthy nutrition and life choices. There are enough people who have conquered even dangerous diseases like cancer by using principles of nature cure. Maybe we need to know more about how they did it and muster up the courage to follow these brave men and women.

There is no doubt in my mind that the time is ripe for modern medicine to return to a broader theory of health and medicine by working on a system that focuses on keeping all of us disease-free by keeping our microbiomes healthy.

What does this mean for my daughter? She will be taught to live with nature, eat healthily and stay fit without too much chemical intervention.