This is a post about something that may be highly relevant to those people that suffer from conditions involving immune abnormalities such as persistent low immunity, infections and autoimmune disease to those suffering from behavioural, developmental and mood disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorders, depression and even autism. In fact, there is a good chance that any chronic persistent condition in the body may be affected by what we refer to as BACTERIAL BIOFILMS.
As we have talked about so often in previous posts, the gut controls approximately 75-80% of the body’s immunity and makes more immune decisions in a day then the rest of the body does in a lifetime. We absorb our vital nutrients from the gut and we make 90% of the ‘feel good’ hormone serotonin and 50% of the ‘feel joy’ hormone dopamine in our gut.
Also mentioned before is the complex microbiota of our gut which is composed of bacteria, parasites, fungi/moulds and mycotoxins. There are so many species that we have yet to discover and even now we really don’t know how all these species interact with each other. What is coming to the our attention is how bacteria can actually ‘hide’ from our gut surveillance system by colonising and building a protective mucous like web around themselves while still creating havoc in our gut!
Bacteria build biofilms by first clumping together, and then rapidly weaving this protective web or matrix around them. It’s a sticky, mucus-y, gluey, goo and it’s got fibrin in it to give it an intact structure. At that point they can shed their outer membrane, which has proteins that serve as antigens which can attract the attention of the immune system. They’re very protected. They’re very crafty in creating a way to survive and procreate and hide from the immune system.
They’re protected because they’ve built this matrix but are still alive, still metabolising, fermenting and and leaching toxins into the bloodstream, although they may have a reduced metabolism compared to active, acute infection. Because of the biofilm they can no longer be reached by an anti-infectious agent or even the immune system.
These bugs are so clever that because of the biofilm you may not find evidence of the infection in the faecal matter when you do stool cultures. As clinicians, we now need to consider bacterial biofilms in our protocols for any chronic condition that does not respond to other treatment protocols.
If you suspect that there is something more insidious behind your health problems, this may be the reason. Please contact Natasha Martin for more information as there are developed protocols to treat these biofilms if suspected .
Yours in health,
Natasha Martin, ND