Could simple immunotherapy reduce the incidence of hospital infections?

This year a family friend was admitted to hospital with a hip fracture after a fall. The surgery went well, and recovery seemed to be on track until an infection was discovered. Another surgical procedure was performed and again everything seemed ok until he was recalled to hospital to go through it all again. In New Zealand we have a fantastic health system, amazing doctors and nursing care, yet we can’t seem to get on top of infections which can emerge even after the most-simple surgical procedure.

I read a Listener magazine article which was headed 'How Safe Is Your Surgery'. The article highlighted the case of a patient who had been in hospital for fairly routine heart valve surgery. Two months and three operations later he was still laid up with intravenous antibiotics dripping into his arm as he fought off a life-threatening infection in his chest wound.
According to a paper which appeared in the NZ Medical Journal, we have one of the highest post-operative infection rates in the OECD.   
As I see it, new thinking is required. A renowned Austrian endocrinologist said, “Progress can only be made by ideas which are very different from those accepted at the moment.” History tells us that when it comes to the way ‘medicine’ is practiced, it can take a long time before new thinking is introduced and becomes accepted practice.
An example of this is handwashing, which now seems to be the most commonly mentioned preventive measure to reduce the risk of infection. It wasn’t always like this. Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis set out to find out why so many women died of infection after giving birth. Dr Semmelweis discovered that surgeons were not washing their hands between patients and thus transferring infections from one patient to another. Despite various publications of results where hand washing reduced mortality to below 1%, Semmelweis's observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time. It wasn’t until many years later that handwashing became accepted practice.
Although the statistics about infection in our hospitals make for sobering reading, a sharp focus on improving the immune status of patients prior to arrival at the hospital, during their stay and when they return home could make a significant difference. It’s interesting to note that many new drugs for cancer treatment focus on immunotherapy.
Vitamin C is essential for a properly functioning immune system. Surgery can have a massive negative impact in the immune system, mainly due to stress.  It’s important to remember that vitamin C is made by animals in response to stress. Humans are not able to make vitamin C and this should be a clue to the problem.

Currently the use of vitamin C in our hospitals is actively discouraged. Recently I had surgery in a German hospital, and I took a lot of vitamin C before and immediately after. This had been approved by my surgeon. My surgical incision healed completely almost overnight and there was never any sign of infection. In the German hospital, all patients are ‘swabbed’ for MRSA prior to admission.
How many people arrive at hospital without being aware of their Vitamin D level? Almost all, I imagine. Vitamin D is crucial to activating our immune defenses. Zinc is known to play a central role in the immune system, and zinc-deficient persons experience increased susceptibility to a variety of pathogens.
The above is all very basic, but I hope we don’t have to wait 50 years before such simple safe and effective interventions could be used to not only save lives but a lot of money too.  It could also be very helpful if sugar in all its forms is on the prohibited list in our hospitals. Consuming sugar is a great way to suppress the immune system.


John Appleton (09) 489 9362  
appletonassoc@xtra.co.nz   www.johnappleton.co.nz


Issue 104 November 2019