Shigella – is a diarrhoea infection now doing the rounds in the UK.

In the UK it is generally found in a child setting, i.e. Nurseries and Schools and then passed from there to the parents and family.

Diarrhoea (may contain blood and mucus)

Abdominal cramps

Fever

Shigella may also cause nausea and vomiting.

There are 4 types of shigella bacteria that cause an infection of the intestines that cause the diarrhoea, fever and nausea, also known as Dysentery. Dysentery is more often associated with poor quality water and is considered to be a travel related infection but it is now appearing in areas where groups of children are i.e. nurseries and schools. The rise in infection rates is possibly due to a lack of hygiene and the lack application of ‘hot-soapy-water-whole-hand-and-wrist’ washing.

I can’t help wondering if we all rely too heavily on wet wipes and hand gel for clean hands? I include nurseries, schools and hospitals in this query too.

I have taken a Food Safety course which taught me a lot about hygiene and I do feel it is a course everyone should do. For example I learned that to clean a kitchen properly after every use, one had to wipe down the surfaces with hot soapy water to take away as much grime as possible, then spray on a disinfectant and leave it on for 20 minutes to disarm and kill the bacteria and then wipe dry.

Unfortunately this method is time consuming and I suspect not many do this in nurseries and schools. One can also now buy products that do the work of both, they clean and disinfect and you don’t need to wash it off because they won’t taint food preparation. Apparently. But are they fully effective?

Therefore we may not be cleaning our kitchens as clean as we think, as they were in the ‘olden days’ and we are not cleaning our hands properly either. And don’t get me started on the laundry! The use of colder washes and non-biological products means that the laundry may actually harbour bad bacteria. I don’t believe the hottest wash on a washing machine is ever at 90 degrees, therefore even the boil wash may not kill the bacteria. The laundry products are so highly perfumed you cannot smell the bad bacteria as the perfume covers up the odour.

Back in the year dot (aka the olden days) before modern disinfectants were invented, there were only three ways to kill microbes: Boiling, Burning or Bleach. These methods were highly effective. Items then were destroyed if they couldn’t be easily boiled or bleached. Floors were hard surfaces that could be washed with pine or bleach, before that straw was used on floors and taken out daily and burned and replaced with fresh straw.

It isn’t that we are so super-clean that our body’s cannot cope so well with bugs, I think it is that we are simply not hygienic enough.

One of my get well products when I was suffering with CFS/ME and which I mention in my book A Happier Healthier Lifestyle is Colloidal Silver. One theory with the cause of CFS/ME is that those suffering are full of toxins that the body cannot dispel safely hence the host of symptoms: the lack of sustainable energy, the aches and pains and the ‘wiped-out’ feeling.

I developed a diet that helped me by feeding me nutritiously and that also gave me the vital nutrients my body needed to get rid of toxins. I also used colloidal silver killing any microbes hanging around or if I developed an infection.

Another aspect that helped was a series of stretches I put together to particularly stretch every muscle group in a relaxed manner. Stretching the body not only facilitates flexibility of the muscles but also aids the passage of toxins through the body and of-course also aids the passage of nutrients to where they are required.

Colloidal silver ensured that any bugs I came into contact with were disarmed before they made me feel worse.

If you feel you are not well – then use Colloidal Silver it is not only safe in pregnancy, for children and the elderly but for everyone. It can be used with most medications but always check with the manufacturer of the Colloidal Silver you are buying first. My preferred company to buy from is UK Colloidal Silver, they are extremely helpful, informative and reasonable.

There is a lot of anecdotal information as well as research in the link The Silver Edge that demonstrates how colloidal silver cured people of sickness and diarrhoea bugs whether it was food poisoning or an infection – within a 24 hour period.

There is no doubt that silver is an antimicrobial agent. Colloidal silver in the report from PubMed shows that it does actually kill the bad bacteria at cell level.

Therefore there is no need to suffer for weeks with a stomach or gut bug, use colloidal silver and you will only be a little unwell for a matter of a day or so, not weeks.

To keep the house clean I use Milton fluid and keep a diluted amount in a spray bottle and use this to wipe everything. I keep plants on the window sill that flies don’t like – aloe vera and basil and plants around the house that can detox the air Mother-in-law’s tongue and the Peace Lily.  I also use aromatherapy oils to detox the house – rosemary and tea tree and many others.

Colloidal silver can also be used to wipe down surfaces and if there is an infection doing the rounds like the nasty shigella infection – it is certainly a must have to use on all the surfaces in the bathroom.

Food Hygiene certificate