In the United States, two common conditions caused by hospital-acquired infections killed 48,000 people and ramped up health care costs by $8.1 billion in 2006 alone, according to a recent study.



This is the largest nationally representative study of the toll taken by sepsis and pneumonia, two conditions often caused by deadly microbes, including the antibiotic-resistant bacteria MRSA.





Such infections can lead to longer hospital stays, serious complications and even death.





Researchers analyzed 69 million discharge records from hospitals in 40 states and identified two conditions caused by health care-associated infections: sepsis, a potentially lethal systemic response to infection and pneumonia, an infection of the lungs and respiratory tract.





Sources:





Eurekalert February 22, 2010

Archives of Internal Medicine February 22, 2010; 170(4):347-53







Dr. Mercola's Comments:





One of the reasons I am so passionate about sharing the information on this site about healthy eating, exercise, and stress management with you is because it can help keep you OUT of the hospital. A hospital is the last place you want to be, as it’s in these health care settings that superbugs like MRSA run rampant. It is becoming increasingly common for healthy people to enter a hospital for a “routine” surgery, only to come down with a hospital-acquired infection (HAI) and become seriously ill … or even die.





In the largest nationally representative study to date, it was found that 48,000 people died due to sepsis or pneumonia caused by hospital-acquired infections. The saddest part is, virtually every one of these infections could likely have been prevented with better infection control in hospitals.





So, unless you have an emergency, I recommend avoiding hospitals as much as possible. They are prime breeding grounds for infections of all kinds and could be one of the likeliest places you could be exposed to an antibiotic-resistant bug.





Just the Tip of the Iceberg





The 48,000 death toll reported by researchers only represents deaths from two conditions caused by HAIs, which means it’s only a smattering of the total carnage these HAIs truly cause.





In the United States, more than 2 million people are affected by hospital-acquired infections every year, and 100,000 people die as a result.





Most people, including most health care professionals, simply do not understand that hospitals account for over ONE-THIRD of the $2.5 trillion the United States spends for "health...." This is TRIPLE what we surrender to drug companies.





It would not be so bad if we actually received major benefits for this investment, but, as this article illustrates, this frequently is not the case.





Why are Hospitals Breeding Grounds for Germs?





Recent studies have shown that hospital-acquired infections are not a normal side-effect of caring for the seriously ill, but are generally caused by poor medical care! This includes not only contaminated medical devices but also spreading germs from patient-to-patient.





Doctors and nurses not washing their hands prior to touching a patient is the most common violation in hospitals. According to findings by The Times, in the worst cases, as few as 40 percent of staff members comply with hand-washing standards, with doctors being the worst offenders.





But even the best hospitals typically boast no better than 90 percent compliance -- which means one out of 10 practitioners may have contaminated hands.





Doctors’ ties and even their white coats have also been implicated as potential causes of infection.





At the University of Maryland, the Wall Street Journal reported that 65% of medical workers said they change their lab coats less than once a week -- despite acknowledging they were contaminated. Worse still, 15% said they change their coat less than once a month, even though superbugs like staph can survive on them for nearly 60 days!





Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs on the Rise





HAIs are frequently caused by antibiotic-resistant microbes, making the infections increasingly difficult to treat.





In Washington hospitals, for instance, patients infected with the antibiotic-resistant germ called MRSA have skyrocketed from about 140 a year to more than 4,700.





Unlike typical staph bacteria, MRSA is much more dangerous because it has become resistant to the broad-spectrum Antibiotics commonly used to treat it, such as methicillin, oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin.





This “super bug” is constantly adapting, meaning it is capable of outsmarting even new Antibiotics that come on the market.





Because MRSA can be so difficult to treat, it can easily progress from a superficial skin infection to a life-threatening infection in your bones, joints, bloodstream, heart valves, lungs, or surgical wounds.





There are other antibiotic-resistant bugs on the rise, too, including gram-negative bacteria, which can cause severe pneumonia and infections of the urinary tract and bloodstream. According to one New York Times report, this category of bacteria are already killing tens of thousands of hospital patients each year.





What’s Spurring the Rise of Antibiotic-Resistant Bugs?





In order to effectively combat this epidemic problem, it’s important to realize that antibiotic-resistant disease is a man-made problem, caused by overuse of Antibiotics both in health care and, even more so, in agriculture. It is not merely a lack of hygiene or proper disinfection techniques that have brought these super bugs to the point of being impervious to nearly all medications we have at our disposal.





About 70 percent of Antibiotic use in the United States is for agricultural purposes. Animals are often fed antibiotics at low doses for disease prevention and growth promotion, and those antibiotics are transferred to you via meat and even manure used for fertilizer.





So, the agriculture industry’s practice of using antibiotics, along with the overuse of antibiotics for medicine, is indeed a driving force behind the development of Antibiotic resistance in a now wide variety of bacteria that cause human disease.





How to Minimize Your Risk of a Hospital-Acquired Infection





Going into the hospital should always be viewed as the option of last resort, when you have exhausted all others. Not only do you risk developing a life-threatening infection, but hospitals all-too-frequently are giving you the wrong solution for your problem.





Ten years ago, Professor Bruce Pomerance of the University of Toronto concluded that properly prescribed and correctly taken pharmaceutical drugs were the fourth leading cause of death in North America.





More recently, Johns Hopkins Medical School refined this research and discovered that medical errors and prescription drugs may actually be the LEADING cause of death, outpacing cancer (which is now our deadliest disease).





do want to make it clear however, that I am very grateful for the amazing dedication and commitment that created the U.S. national trauma system network. The dedicated physicians in the ER are probably the most appropriate application of the conventional medical model. They have saved and benefited countless lives through the application of their principles.





However ER medicine is best for acute accidents and nearly always an unmitigated disaster when it is applied for chronic degenerative illnesses. Likewise, there are countless unnecessary surgeries performed in hospitals every year for problems that could have been addressed with less invasive, natural methods and health principles.





Far too many negative health and lifestyle choices are made because of a lack of knowledge, and it's my intention to increase your awareness of the health tragedies facing the U.S., and empower you with the tools needed to become a force for good health so you can stay out of the hospital as much as possible.





Fortunately, there are a number of basic strategies you can use to avoid getting sucked into the current disease-care paradigm. Following these guidelines will be a powerful way to improve your health so that you can stay OUT of the hospital, and live a longer, more vibrant life.





1. Address your emotional traumas and manage your stress





2. Get optimal exposure to sunlight or a safe tanning bed, or take oral vitamin D this is not possible





3. Drink plenty of clean pure water and avoid all sodas and fruit juices





4. Limit your exposure to toxins







5. Consume healthy fat





6. Eat a healthy Diet that’s right for your nutritional type (paying very careful attention to keeping your insulin levels down)





7. Eat plenty of raw food





8. Optimize your fasting insulin and leptin levels





9. Exercise regularly





10. Get plenty of good sleep





Related Links:





More Than 100,000 People Die EVERY Year in the U.S. Because of Hosp...





Deadly Hospital Superbug Infections Increase by 22 Percent in Only ...





How Hospitals are Killing ER Patients







Read this article and/or sign up for Dr. Mercola's FREE NewsLetter click here.

What would you do if you learned there was a concerted effort to keep you sick? And what would you do if you learned that the way they could do that was by
the food that you ate? Would that upset you? Well, be prepared.




The best way for me to explain this is to put it in the vernacular of the street, relating to it all as pimps, hookers, and tricks.




If you were looking at it this way, who do you think the pimps might be? The number one pimp on my list is the pharmaceutical industry. Why is that? First
of all they are all publicly traded companies and the first and foremost goal of a publicly traded company is to increase profits. And the best way to
increase profits is by increasing earnings per share. The best way to do that is to sell tons of the product you sell.




The pharmaceutical industry, first and foremost, is in the business of selling drugs. In order to sell drugs, people have to be sick. They have to be sick
either through natural causes or by inventing diseases. We'll get to the natural causes down the road.




Up until about eight years ago there was never such thing as "Restless Leg Syndrome". Before "Gastric Reflux Disease" took on such a fancy name, it was
simply known as heartburn. These are just a couple of examples of how the pharmaceutical industry invents diseases to sell drugs. I wouldn't be surprised
if they don't come up with a disease called "Refrigerator Door Syndrome". I guess the main symptom of that would be opening up the refrigerator door and
looking for something that didn't exist five minutes ago when you did the same thing. Or, they could come up with "Motivational Deficiency Disorder", which
basically is a fancy word for lazy. Another one could be "Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder". This could be described as being in anxiety because your
neighbor has more toys than you do. I'm sure if you guys try, I think you could probably come up with some classic diseases of your own. And who knows,
maybe you could market them to the pharmaceutical industry and get paid royalties for the rest your life. (The fictitious disease names were created by
Mike Adams).




The one thing they don't tell you when you take prescription drugs is that because they're synthetic toxic chemicals there is a really good chance that you
will experience severe negative reactions to these drugs. The bad news is that President George Bush made it so that you can't sue the pharmaceutical
industry if you get sick or die. So basically you're just subjected to taking their drugs and hope for the best.




In the year 2007, or thereabouts, the Governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle, spend $15 million of taxpayer money to stockpile the Tamiflu vaccine, which was
supposed to ward off the bird flu pandemic that never came. The irony of this is that in 2009 it was proven that the Tamiflu vaccine was completely
worthless and that it didn't work . The other scam was the H1N1 flu vaccine that was created to contain the swine flu pandemic. That one never materialized
either but they sure sold a lot of vaccines. Now, in Hawaii, because they're holding so many vaccines that never got used, they are recommending that
children starting at 6 months old must get a second shot. See what I mean about the pharmaceutical industry being a pimp? Another nightmare is the Gardisil
vaccine which treats the papilloma virus. Not only are they giving it to young girls to prevent cervical cancer, now they want to give it to young boys as
well. What they are not telling anybody is that this vaccine causes sterility.




Other big pimps on the planet are the big food companies. These guys are merciless. They don't care what they sell as long as they sell it and make a big
profit. The best way to do that is to sell you food full of fat, sugar, and salt - the heavenly trio - to keep you hooked.




Let's look at reality for a minute. Most people are hooked on a flesh-based diet. People are so addicted to this due to conditioning that they can't see
reality if it came up and bit them in the butt.




By the time an animal is slaughtered, that decomposing flesh doesn't make it to your supermarket for at least a week. Do you mean to tell me that after a
week a dead body can remain as bright and rosy as you see it in the supermarket?




And not only that, but that you can walk into the supermarket and not be bowled over by the stench? Why is that? It's because of the color enhancers and
the stink reducers and the ammonia to kill the bacteria and the carbon monoxide to keep it pink and rosy, that it stays that color and doesn't smell.




Chicken is even worse. After the chickens are killed they are, if you'll pardon the expression, cleansed in a bath full of pus, urine, doo doo, and rot.
And the USDA says, if you cannot see the doo doo through the clear wrap, it is okay to sell.




When you buy a food that is processed, you are buying something that is devoid of natural flavor and contains MSG, or a euphemism thereof, to give it its
flavor. Did you ever wonder why when you go into a supermarket you can see food on the shelf for weeks without it spoiling? Did you ever wonder why that
was? It's because of all the preservatives to increase the shelf life to increase the profit to not have any loss. Nowhere in that product is there any
concern whatsoever for your health.




In Hawaii, we have the rare distinction of being the Spam capitol of the world. We even have Spam festivals here. I have a friend who told me he was
friends with the Hormel family children, who by the way are all vegetarians. They were forbidden to eat Spam. Hawaii also has another distinction - it is
the colon cancer capitol of the world. Some people will never learn.




Then another outrageous pimp is Monsanto. Monsanto says they will save the world with the food they produce - the genetically modified food they produce.
What does that mean? It means that they take a food and make it impervious to whatever amount of their cash crop Round Up they spray on it. In other words,
they will spray the hell out of the food with their favorite pesticide to make sure that no weeds or bugs hinder the growth of their products. Just as a
side note, in India they did an experiment. They went out into the woods and they hung normal food from one tree and genetically modified food from another
tree. They came back a week later and found that the regular food was all eaten and the GMOs were untouched. It's not hard to realize that the animals are
innately smarter than the people.




Moving on to the hookers now, I guess the head of that group has to be the medical profession. With the best of intentions these guys go to medical school
and wind up being subjected to curriculum that is funded by their pimp, the pharmaceutical industry. When they graduate from medical school they come out
with a "take-a-pill" or a "cut-it-out" mentality. To say that when a person graduates from medical school is nutritionally clueless is an understatement.
When a doctor treats a patient for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type-2 diabetes, arthritis, constipation, or whatever, it is always with drugs.
When an oncologist treats a patient for cancer it is always with chemotherapy, radiation, and endless periods of time when your immune system hits rock
bottom. Nowhere, ever, do they ever treat with nutrition.




Then of course you have the mainstream media that will do everything to protect their advertising dollars. Which, by the way, comes from pharmaceutical ads
and ads from restaurants selling the foods that make sure you always see your doctor. Not only that, but the articles that appear somehow never favor
plant-based diets or natural cures. Did you ever wonder why that was? It's all about money! No one really gives a damn about you being healthy.




Next we have a government agencies. We have the FDA, affectionately known as the Fraud and Drug Administration; the CDC, affectionately known as the
Centers For Deceit Control and Procrastination; the USDA, affectionately known as the US Department of A@#$%&#s; and the FTC, affectionately known as
the Federal Treachery Commission. Why do I describe them as such? Because they do anything to protect big business and little to protect the people.




The FDA will do anything to further the profits of the drug industry. They have no qualms in shutting down companies dealing with natural remedies. The
fact, the head guys at the FDA are former pharmaceutical executives. Right now in the United States, the head of the Agriculture Department, Michael
Taylor, affectionately known as "Monsanto Mike," used to be an attorney in that company.




It is a known fact that cherry juice is a great remedy for Arthritis pain. Yet, the cherry growers can't say that and if they do the Fraud and Drug
Administration will shut them down. Celestial Seasonings, the tea company, made the mistake of saying that one of their teas was sweetened with Stevia, a
natural herb. Well, the FDA wouldn't hear of that. So, they told them that if they didn't take Stevia, listed as a sweetener, off the label they would shut
them down. Pimps, hookers and tricks.




You all know that the CDC is a big pusher of fluoride. What a travesty that is. But what you didn't know was that in their Morbidity and Mortality Weekly
Report of August 17, 2001/ Volume 50/ Number RR-14, on Recommendations for Using Fluoride to Prevent and Control Dental Caries in the United States, on
page 4, in the third paragraph, it says," fluoride's predominant effect is post-eruptive and topical." This means it works on the surface of the tooth
after the tooth has come into the mouth. Nowhere, anywhere, does it say you have to drink the poison. Pimps, hookers and tricks.




The USDA is in bed with the dairy industry. The USDA protects the dairy industry as if it were a golden goose. Let me give you a good example: back when
Bill Clinton was the the President, he hired Dr. Josylyn Elders, a black woman, as his Surgeon General. Dr. Elders, in her first week in office was going
to make the announcement that Blacks were 95% lactose intolerant, that Asians were 80-85% lactose intolerant, that Latinos were 75% lactose intolerant and
Caucasians were 70% lactose intolerant. Dr. Elders never got to make that statement. She was fired after a week. It's a classic case of a government agency
protecting big business rather than the people.




Next we have, on the hooker list, the Public Health Officials. Boy oh boy, do they love to push vaccines full of mercury, thimerisol and toxic adjuvants.
Autism anyone? Recently, an organization named Autism Speaks went public about trying to reverse autism. And they listed so many things that they were
going to do. But somehow they failed to mention the vaccine connection. So I asked that question to the Director of Autism Speaks. I was told that vaccines
do not contribute to autism. I then asked if the organization accepts donations from the pharmaceutical industry. The answer I received was, "not that
much." Pimps, hookers and tricks.




Anyway, with regard to vaccines, a child by six months old has received nine vaccines. By the time the child is seven years old it has received 47
vaccines. And by the time that person is 70 years old, they have received 160 vaccines. You really mean to tell me that there's no danger in this? In New
Jersey and New York there are no exemptions to vaccines. They are trying to do the same thing in Hawaii.




Recently, in Hawaii, there was a Hearing in which a bill was introduced to offer vegetarian and vegan meals in the public schools. The bill said that these
meals "shall" be entered in the public schools. Two entities voted against this. The Board of Education and the Department of Health. When the wording of
the bill was changed from "shall" to "should," meaning that now they had a choice to do it or not, these two entities voted in favor. Nothing like keeping
kids sick and protecting the interests of the corporations.




I guess we also have to add the "shrinks" to the "hooker" list. They are a group of jerks that invented "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder" as an
excuse to put kids on drugs just because they might space out in the classroom.




Let's talk about the Dentists for a minute. Because the Dentists are hesitant to accept the low pay that Medicaid pays, they advocate fluoride. What a
convenient way to ease their guilt. In Alaska, where dentists seldom go, especially in the remote parts, there are people that are trained as DHATS (Dental
Hygiene Attending Therapists). These people can basically do what Dentists can do and are willing to go anywhere in Alaska. Guess who opposes them? The
Dentists that refuse to go into the "boonies" to treat the people.




I always love the organizations that are out there doing their work to find cures for various diseases. My favorite is the American Heart Association.
These hypocrites have spent 30 years trying to find a cure for heart disease. Every year in Hawaii they have a Heart Ball to raise money try to find a cure
for heart disease. The cost to attend the Heart Ball is anywhere from $3500-$5000 a plate. And the menu items -filet mignon, prime ribs, and veal. I guess
they figured nobody would pay that much money for fried tofu, steamed vegetables, and brown rice.




Let's get back to Monsanto for a minute. We already talked about their Genetically-Modified-Organisms scam, but don't forget these are the people they gave us Agent Orange. And we
all know how wonderful this chemical is and the lasting effects of its exposure to our men that fought in Viet Nam. Recently, there was worldwide news that
the bee colonies were collapsing. Why do you think that was? Because the bees have a hard time with the GMOs. In addition to all of Monsanto's horrors they
are also involved with Mono-Sodium-Glutamat (Natrium Glutamat) and Aspartame. Nothing like putting something out there that screws up your brain as well.




I guess I spent a lot of time talking about the pimps and hookers and not about the tricks. If you want to know who the tricks are, just look in the
mirror.




Hopefully, at this point you have a clear indication as to why you have to take complete responsibility for your health. You have to understand one thing:
adhering to a flesh-based diet will cause you to succumb to degenerative disease. And even though the animals have died so you can put them on your plate,
they have the last laugh from the grave by giving you arthritis, heart disease, cancer, constipation, and type-2 diabetes for openers.




Basically, the only thing that can help you reverse your health or keep you in good health is proper nutrition. Poor nutrition will destroy people and good
nutrition will save people.




Food plays such an important role and has such a powerful impact In everything that matters is society. You all know that old saying," you are what you
eat." We are a diseased nation eating foods that we really should not eat.




The Western diet consists of dead foods, which have been overcooked or microwaved, and processed foods, which have been bleached. It is a diet lacking
large quantities of fresh, living, fruits and vegetables. It is a diet that avoids adequate water hydration and focuses on sugary beverages. It is a diet
that includes large amounts of processed, homogenized, and pasteurized dairy products, which eliminates any nutrients whatsoever. It is a diet loaded with
hundreds of different chemical food additives and preservatives . It is the diet consisting of conventionally grown pesticide contaminated foods. It is a
diet consisting of large quantities of unhealthy oils such as corn oil or soy oil or partially hydrogenated oils. It is a diet of heavily fried foods or
foods cooked at such high temperatures that it destroys nutrients while creating carcinogenic compounds. It is a diet comprised of hydrogenated oils,
refined sugar, and enormous amounts of fat and salt. And all this is consumed by about 90 percent of the US population.




This diet, affectionately known as "the diet of death," adversely affects personal health, healthcare costs, and our children's ability to think clearly.
This diet has a negative affect on Corporate America because the workers poisoned by processed foods suffer from repeated sick days, the inability to
focus, failure to learn, and failure to create new ideas. With their brains fueled by junk foods and with failed education giving them few options for
earning an honest living, more people turn to crime. In time, the prisons become filled with people incarcerated for behavior that could have been at least
partially prevented with proper nutrition. With disease rates skyrocketing, violent crime on the rise, education failures rampant, and healthcare costs
bankrupting families, happiness hits an all-time low. As junk food consumption continues through multiple generations, the genetic integrity of the
population declines. Then, because the population is dulled out because of all the junk foods they are eating, economic productivity hits rock-bottom and
employers shift jobs overseas where people seem to have much higher levels of productivity. To say this is a losing situation is a gross understatement.




Earlier in this article we talked about the pharmaceutical industry wanting to drug everyone and anyone to make a buck. But we really didn't talk about the
problems that a medicated population invokes. Medicated drivers are no different than drunk drivers. This dullness also carries over to the workplace where
medicated workers tend to make many more mistakes. You have people taking a medication to treat one disease and this somehow creates another disease
because of the adverse effects of the synthetic chemicals. Because the pharmaceutical industry has a monopoly, the high pricing of the medications creates
very high healthcare costs. And when those medications pass through the bodies of the consumers and eventually get dumped into the rivers and other
waterways, they pollute the environment. And now, believe it or not, the FAA has relented and is allowing pilots to fly while on antidepressant drugs.
Shades of Columbine!




This is a recipe for disaster: higher costs, lower productivity, increased rates of disease, decreased economic productivity, environmental destruction and
a dumbed down population.




It is very clear when you walk around the supermarket or you watch ads on TV that America has chosen to adopt a really bad diet. People in this country are
addicted to fast foods and junk foods and live to eat rather than eat to live. And this insane diet coming from that premise will have far more
consequences than anyone can imagine.




Let me leave you with one last thought: if there was a concerted effort to keep you sick so you could die early and assuming you could die before you
reached age 67, who do you think might benefit? How about the government? And why? Doesn't Social Security kick in when you reach age 67? If you die before
you reach that age there is no danger of Social Security ever running out. That's because you won't be around to collect it at the age are supposed to.
Food for thought!




Aloha!




Part of this article was written with permission from Mike Adams to use bits of his, "Nutrition Can Save America", article.






About the author:


I have been doing a weekly radio show in Honolulu since 1981 called "Health Talk". In 2007 I was "forced" to get a Masters degree in Nutrition because of
all the doctors that would call in asking for my credentials. They do not call in anymore. Going to www.healthtalkhawaii.com enables you, among other things, to listen to the shows. I am an
activist. In addition to espousing an organic vegan diet for optimum health, I am strongly opposed to GMOs, vaccines, processed foods, MSG, aspartame,
fluoridation and everything else that the pimps (Big Pharma, Monsanto and the large food companies) and the hookers (the doctors, the government agencies,
the public health officials, and the mainstream media) thrust upon us, the tricks.


After being vaccinated with the DTP vaccine as a child I developed asthma. After taking the organic sulfur crystals (they are harvested from the pine trees
in Louisiana) in November of 2008 for 10 days my asthma reversed and has not come back over 4 years later, 18 cases, so far, of autism have been reversed,
as has cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, osteoarthritis, joint pain, astigmatism, gum disease, increased sexual activity, heavy metal and
radiation elimination, parasite elimination, free radicals elimination, faster athletic recovery time, increased blood circulation, reduced inflammation,
resistance to getting the flu, reduction of wrinkles, allergy reduction, reduced PMS and monthly period pain, nausea, migraines and so much more. And it's
only possible because of the oxygen it releases that floods the cells of the body. The sulfur, as proven by the University of Southampton in England,
enables the body to produce vitamin B12 and the essential amino acids. You can find out more about this incredible nutrient also on my website - www.healthtalkhawaii.com -.


My book, "a Sane Diet For An Insane World", has been published. It can be viewed at


www.asanediet.com
.


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The plot to keep you sick (Opinion)