1st Line – an Exciting Innovation in the Treatment of Infection - the Safe Alternative to Antibiotics

The introduction of penicillin as a readily available antibiotic in the 1940’s heralded a new age in the treatment of infections and disease. At last bacterial infections and infectious diseases could be brought under control and in many cases successfully treated. Before the discovery of penicillin infectious diseases were a huge public health problem that led to many deaths. Statistics reveal that in 1900 pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB), and diarrhoea and enteritis (together with diphtheria) were responsible for a third of all deaths.

Nowadays, for those of us living in developed countries at least, contracting something like diarrhoea is more of a nuisance than anything else and certainly not a life threatening condition. And diseases such as TB are relatively rare. Instead we now worry about heart disease and cancer - today’s leading causes of death.

In the years since the discovery of penicillin scientists have developed over 150 different antibiotics to help stop the spread of infectious diseases - although the rate of discovery has slowed significantly in more recent times. It’s not surprising, therefore, that today in most first world countries, antibiotics are the second most widely used class of drugs after simple analgesics (painkillers). And with their ability to treat previously potentially fatal conditions many people consider antibiotics to be “miracle drugs” - often conferring upon them powers that far exceed anything that they are pharmacologically capable of.

But although antibiotics have undoubtedly saved millions of lives, their very success has come at what may prove to be a very high price indeed. The problem is one of bacterial antibiotic resistance. Many strains of bacteria have now evolved to become resistant to the very drugs (the antibiotics) that were designed to kill them. Once they encounter an antibiotic, bacteria appear to be able to change their structure remarkably quickly in order to become resistant to the antibiotic - remember Alexander Fleming only discovered penicillin in 1928 and yet by the 1970’s the first resistant strains were already beginning to appear. And once a resistant strain has emerged, the antibiotic concerned will no longer be effective against all infections caused by that particular strain. It’s as if mother nature is constantly managing to keep one step ahead.

The issue of resistance has grown to such an extent that experts are now warning that we are facing a global public health problem of potentially catastrophic proportions. The problem is being exacerbated not only by the speed at which resistance appears to develop, but also by factors such as jet travel which enables resistant strains to spread across the world with even greater speed.

What’s more, the resistant strains often evolve and thrive in the hospital environment where people may already be in a weakened state of immunity or have open wounds etc that leave them much more vulnerable to infection. And we’ve all heard the horror stories of patients who’ve enter hospital for relatively minor conditions but who have gone on to develop major complications - and even die - because they’ve picked up one of these resistant infections while in hospital.

Unfortunately, antibiotic resistance is also most evident in the bacterial infections that contribute most to human disease such as diarrhoea, respiratory tract infections and hospital-acquired infections.

So just how has this happened? How is it that the antibiotics that were once thought of as “miracle drugs” are now becoming increasingly ineffective?

As with most things the answer is not completely straight forward. Undoubtedly the very success of antibiotics has played a large part in creating the problem of resistance. With success has come complacency which has resulted in a tendency for misuse, abuse and overuse. For example:

• We’ve become so conditioned to taking antibiotics that if we go to the doctors then we pretty much expect to get a script for them even if we could be better off looking for an alternative or only taking antibiotics as last resort


• We often take antibiotics when they are not really necessary - perhaps for fairly minor ailments from which they would recover just as easily without such medication


• Doctors will still often prescribe antibiotics for viral infections even though antibiotics are totally ineffective against viruses. In the US it’s estimated that an estimated 50 million unnecessary antibiotics are prescribed for viral respiratory infections every year!


• We fail to complete the course of antibiotics prescribed - experts argue that by doing this resistance increases because only the relatively weak bacteria in are killed off leaving the more resistant bacteria to survive. Plus having in effect “seen” the antibiotics, the bacteria are able to adapt accordingly so that the particular antibiotics can no longer kill them off in the future

It’s clear then that something has to be done otherwise we risk facing a situation where antibiotics simply no longer serve any purpose leaving resistant bacteria strains to run rampant.

This is where 1st Line comes in. Using patented technology developed by British chemist Dr Richard Stead, 1st Line uses thiocyanates (sometimes referred to as hypothiocyanates or oxythiocyanates) to help you fight against infection. Thiocyanates are produced naturally by the human body as part of its first line of defence against unwanted pathogens. They are found in the secretions of the nose, eyes etc, the points at which invaders first come into contact with the body. Even breast milk, which is well known for its protective properties, contains thiocyanates.

Thiocyanates are endogenous enzymes i.e. ones that are produced by the body that form part of the lactoperoxidase system. This system provides antimicrobial defences in tissues that express lactoperoxidase. Hypothiocyanate ions are produced as a result of a chemical reaction between hydrogen peroxide and thiocyanate and it is these ions that provide the pathogen-destroying power of thiocyanate. The ions enter and kill off pathogenic cells by effectively cutting off the invading cells’ abilities to grow, repair and access energy. By doing this any infection is stopped dead in its tracks. What’s more, not only are thiocyanates effective against bacteria, they can also destroy viral, yeast and fungal infections.

Thiocyanates have even shown promise against the so called “super bugs” such as MRSA. Antibiotics, on the other hand, only kill bacteria.

So why haven’t we been using thiocyanates instead of antibiotics to fight disease especially as they are effective against a much wider range of pathogenic agents? The problem has been how to manufacture a useable thiocyanate supplement. Thiocyanates are highly unstable molecules with incredibly short half lives. Any thiocyanate solution would have had to have been consumed immediately after manufacture - hardly a practical form of therapy and one that would be impossible to manufacture.

That is until now. For the first time ever, 1st Line brings to the market a practical solution to the problem of taking thiocyanates at home. 1st Line contains a kit that is made up of the four individual elements that are required to make up a thiocyanate solution. These individual elements are absolutely stable and can be kept in the medicine cabinet at room temperature for up to 2 years.

At the first sign of infection, all that you have to do is follow the simple instructions in order to make up the thiocyanate solution. The result is an almost tasteless solution - which, providing it is consumed within 30 minutes of preparation - gives you an unparalleled boost to your immune system.

And the fact that 1st Line is effective against such a wide range of pathogens means that it’s not necessary for you to know what exactly you’re fighting against before taking the thiocyanate solution - unlike many other medications where it is necessary to have to wait for the results of tests before you can be prescribed the appropriate medication. In fact you don’t even have to wait until you are feeling unwell to benefit from 1st Line - taking a dose of 1st Line from anything from once every month to once every three months can really help to lift your immune system.

In addition, 1st Line acts quickly. Anecdotal evidence suggests 1st Line is effective in just a matter of hours or overnight at the latest. The likelihood is that you’ll only have to take one or perhaps two doses of 1st Line to fight off most infections - rather than taking a whole course of drugs for anything from 5-10days as is the case with many antibiotics.

What’s more 1st Line is extremely well tolerated and appears to be side effect free. The problem with many antibiotics is that they are unable to discriminate between good and bad bacteria - this means that when you take a course of antibiotics, the good bacteria in your gut are also attacked which can often result in gastro problems. Not a welcome side effect when you’re already sick! This simply isn’t an issue with 1st Line.

Nor is resistance a problem and experts consider that it is unlikely to be one in the future either.

So whether you are feeling the first signs of infection or you simply want to give your immune system an unparalleled boost, make 1st Line your first line of defence.