You may have heard some talk about a huge and unexpected price increase for cycloserine—a pill used to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis. According to the New York Times, the new owner of the TB drug recently jacked up the price by an astounding 2,000 per cent virtually overnight. Although the outrageous price tag has since been withdrawn, the drug will still be twice as expensive as before.
The recent price hike of a tuberculosis drug may have a lot of people questioning why there is no regulation for fair pricing for essential medicines. Adding to the troubling concerns over the high cost of medication, multidrug-resistant forms of tuberculosis are on the rise, making it even harder to effectively treat the disease.
Understanding the Immune System
Your immune system protects your body from harm, fighting off viruses, bacteria, and parasites. It also knows when cells become unhealthy, fending off potential attacks from the diseased cells.
The body’s immune system consists of two main types of defence—adaptive immune response and innate immune response. The adaptive immune response involves the body recognizing attack by a foreign invader that it has previously identified. B and T cells patrolling through the blood and lymphatic system can take some time to mount an effective attack. The innate immune system, on the other hand, is not specific to any particular pathogen, and instead uses several mechanisms to quickly respond and ward off infection during the first critical hours and days. This fast immune response is vital because a single bacterium that has a doubling time of one hour can make close to 20 million bacteria, creating a full-blown infection in just one day.
Your Body’s Best Defence Against Disease
The immune system is the body’s best defence against disease. However, there are several factors that can result in a compromised immune system. The first step to addressing these potential problems is to identify them. Some of the causes that can weaken the immune system include stress, poor eating habits, lack of sleep, and unhealthy lifestyle habits.
A Healthy Alternative to Treating Disease
Many prescribed medications and over-the-counter drugs merely mask the symptoms—never addressing the source of a disease. Plus, extended use of many drugs is not only expensive, but can also lead to other serious health issues. There is, however, a safe and healthy option to treat the root of the problem without harmful side effects—Panax ginseng.
Macrophages are one component of the innate fast-acting immune system. They are called “big eaters” because they are a type of white blood cell that takes in (called phagocytosis) any foreign invader and alerts the body to the intruder. Panax ginseng has been shown to enhance the phagocytic activity of macrophages and destroy the pathogenic invader.
Dendritic cells are another part of the innate immune response. These cells act as messengers between the innate and adaptive immune systems by helping the T cells recognize the infection. Studies have shown that Panax ginseng has a stimulating effect on dendritic cells.
Natural killer cells (NK cells) are a type of lymphocyte (a white blood cell) that selectively attacks and destroys tumours and virally infected cells within hours—another component of the innate immune system. Several studies have reported that Panax ginseng can improve NK cell activity.
With these three important and quick-acting immune cells hacked into higher activity using Panax ginseng, you are less likely to get sick in the first place, saving you time, loss of work wages, energy, your health, and money.
Dr. Melissa Carr is a registered Dr. of Traditional Chinese Medicine, caring for patients in an integrative medicine clinic in Vancouver.