No matter whether an infection is bacterial, viral, fungal, or parasitical—maitake’s beta- glucans powerfully activate the immune system and enhance the body’s healing response. Beta-glucans impact a type of non-specific or generalized immune enhancement by supporting the most fundamental aspect of immune function—the primitive, yet all-powerful, macrophage. Indeed, beta-glucans appear to be essential to optimal immune function for virtually all life forms. 
 

MAITAKE AND VIRUSES

 

In 1898, Friedrich Loeffler and Paul Frosch found evidence that the cause of foot-and-mouth disease in livestock was an infectious particle smaller than any bacteria. This was the first clue to the nature of viruses, genetic entities that lie somewhere in the gray area between living and nonliving states.

 

Viruses depend on the host cells that they infect to reproduce. When found outside of host cells, viruses exist as a protein coat or capsid, sometimes enclosed within a membrane. The capsid encloses either DNA or RNA, which code for the virus elements. While in this form outside the cell, the virus is metabolically inert.

 

When it comes into contact with a host cell, a virus can insert its genetic material into its host, literally taking over the host’s functions. An infected cell produces more viral protein and genetic material instead of its usual products. Some viruses may remain dormant inside host cells for long periods, causing no obvious change in their host cells (a stage known as the lysogenic phase). But when a dormant virus is stimulated, it enters the lytic phase: new viruses are formed, self-assemble, and burst out of the host cell, killing the cell and going on to infect other cells.

 

Viruses cause a number of diseases. In humans, smallpox, the common cold, chickenpox, influenza, shingles, herpes, polio, rabies, Ebola, hanta fever, and AIDS are examples of viral diseases. Even some types of cancer—although definitely not all—have been linked to viruses.

 

Viruses themselves have no fossil record, but it is quite possible that they have left traces in the history of life. It has been hypothesized that viruses may be responsible for some of the extinctions seen in the fossil record. It was once thought by some that outbreaks of viral disease might have been responsible for mass extinctions, such as the extinction of the dinosaurs and other life forms. This theory is hard to test but seems unlikely, since a given virus can typically cause disease only in one species or in a group of related species. Even a hypothetical virus that could infect and kill all dinosaurs, 65 million years ago, could not have infected the ammonites or foraminifera that also went extinct at the same time.

 

On the other hand, because viruses can transfer genetic material between different host species, they are extensively used in genetic engineering. Viruses also carry out natural genetic engineering: a virus may incorporate some genetic material from its host as it is replicating, and transfer this genetic information to a new host, even to a host unrelated to the previous host. This is known as transduction, and in some cases it may serve as a means of evolutionary change.

 

Let’s look at how maitake can help to enhance the body’s resistance to, and recovery from, virally induced illnesses.

 

HIV/AIDS

 

Worldwide, at the end of 2001, an estimated 40 million people—37.2 million adults and 2.7 million children younger than 15 years—were living with HIV/AIDS, notes the National Institutes of Health. More than 70 percent of these people (28.1 million) live in Sub-Saharan Africa; another 15 percent (6.1 million) live in South and Southeast Asia.

 

Worldwide, approximately one in every 100 adults aged 15 to 49 is HIVinfected. In Sub-Saharan Africa, about 8.4 percent of all adults in this age group are HIV-infected. In 16 African countries, the prevalence of HIV infection among adults aged 15 to 49 exceeds 10 percent.

 

Approximately 48 percent of adults living with HIV/AIDS worldwide are women.

 

An estimated five-million new HIV infections occurred worldwide during 2001; that is, about 14,000 infections each day. More than 95 percent of these new infections occurred in developing countries.

 

In 2001, approximately 6,000 young people aged 15 to 24 became infected with HIV every day—that is, one person about five every minutes.

 

In 2001 alone, HIV/AIDS-associated illnesses caused the deaths of approximately three million people worldwide, including an estimated 580,000 children younger than 15 years.

 

Worldwide, more than 80 percent of all adult HIV infections have resulted from heterosexual intercourse.

 

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 800,000 to 900,000 U.S. residents are living with HIV infection, one-third of whom are unaware of their infection. Approximately 40,000 new HIV infections occur each year in the United States, about 70 percent among men and 30 percent among women. Of these newly infected people, half are younger than 25 years of age.

 

Of new infections among men in the United States, CDC estimates that approximately 60 percent of men were infected through homosexual sex, 25 percent through injection drug use, and 15 percent through heterosexual sex. Of newly infected men, approximately 50 percent are black, 30 percent are white, 20 percent are Hispanic, and a small percentage are members of other racial/ethnic groups. Of new infections among women in the United States, CDC estimates that approximately 75 percent of women were infected through heterosexual sex and 25 percent through injection drug use. Of newly infected women, approximately 64 percent are black, 18 percent are white, 18 percent are Hispanic, and a small percentage are members of other racial/ethnic groups. In the United States, 774,467 cases of AIDS had been reported to the CDC through December 31, 2000. The estimated number of new adult/adolescent AIDS cases diagnosed in the United States was 49,691 in 1997, 42,955 in 1998, and 41,680 in 1999. In 2000, 41,960 new cases of AIDS in adults/adolescents were reported in the United States.

 

Maitake should be recognized as a potential therapeutic adjunct for persons with HIV/AIDS. In a January 17, 1992 report on an in vitro study conducted for possible anti-HIV drugs, the National Cancer Institute noted that Maitake D-fraction was effective against HIV. The NCI results demonstrated that D-fraction can prevent HIV-infected helper T-cells from being destroyed by as much as 97 percent in vitro. This is very important because measuring a patient’s helper T-cell count is considered as a benchmark in monitoring the progression of HIV to full-blown AIDS. Japan’s National Institute of Health had announced similar conclusions one year earlier.

 

According to authors Lieberman and Babal:

 

“The researchers at NCI admitted that the maitake extract is as powerful as AZT (a commonly prescribed drug for AIDS, and the only FDA-approved drug at the time) but without the toxic side effects associated with AZT. These prestigious research institutes confirmed in test-tube experiments that D-fraction enhances the activity of other immune cells as well as T lymphocytes. Since then, a number of practitioners involved in AIDS/HIV treatment have reported favorable responses in patients, including increases in helper T-cells and reversal of HIV-positive status to HIV-negative. This feedback supports what the studies show. Some physicians are also applying D-fraction extract topically as a treatment for Kaposi’s sarcoma, a skin cancer which often develops in AIDS patients.”

 

Two doctors, whose work with maitake has been most often cited, are well known for their successes with HIV/AIDS patients: physician and health freedom activist Dr. Joan Priestley (Omni Medical Center, Anchorage, Alaska) and Dr. David Hughes (Hyperbaric Oxygen Institute, San Bernardino, California).

 

Dr. Priestley has found considerable improvement in her HIV/AIDS patients who are taking maitake. She has found that her patients’ T-lymphocyte cell counts have stabilized or increased over the course of treatment. She has also found D-fraction to be a more effective treatment than maitake tablets alone. “I have used maitake products on my patients for some time now and have been very impressed with the results,” says Dr.  Priestley. “Topical application produced good regression of Kaposi’s sarcoma lesions in one AIDS patient, which I consider a major accomplishment.” Kaposi’s sarcoma is an often fatal skin condition found among some 40 percent of HIV/AIDS patients.

 

In 1993, Dr. Priestley told health writer Anthony Cichoke:

 

¦ Kaposi’s sarcoma is clearly improved by taking maitake for some of her patients.

¦ Maitake extract (D-fraction) seems to be working better with her patients than maitake tablets.

¦ Those patients with Kaposi’s sarcoma, who had received radiation treatment before taking maitake, showed dramatic improvement.

¦ Many symptoms of AIDS were generally improved after taking maitake.

 

Dr. Priestley adds this caveat: More comprehensive and controlled studies are needed to investigate maitake’s activity against Kaposi’s sarcoma because it is known that natural remission sometimes occurs in such cases.

 

Meanwhile, Dr. David Hughes, of San Bernardino, has applied Maitake D-fraction mixed with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to treat Kaposi’s sarcoma in AIDS patients, reporting the lesions are phased out within several days. Dr. Hughes reports that one of his patients, who had been HIV positive, became HIV negative by taking Maitake D-fraction orally for a month.

 

According to Dr. Hughes, Maitake D-fraction may be applied directly to the Kaposi’s sarcoma lesions and recommends the following treatment:

 

Take two-thirds Maitake D-fraction liquid extract, plus one-third DMSO. Apply this mixture with a Q-tip to the Kaposi’s sarcoma lesions. The lesions reduce in a few days.

 

Dr. Hughes adds two cautions: 1) The mix gets quite hot—so it seems that maitake will react chemically with DMSO; and 2) some patients who kept using it continuously got quite “high.” He cautions patients not to use more than four times per day.

 

One of Dr. Hughes’s patients claimed his HIV-positive status was turned to negative by his use of maitake. On July 14, 1994, he tested positive for HIV, but a follow-up test result dated August ²³ showed that he was HIVnegative. His diary shows the progress of his improvement:

 

¦ 07/20/94: ...bad eye infection caused by getting motor oil in eyes....Dr Hughes suggested use of ampicillin and he looked at my blood and again noticed my blood counts were low.... he suggested maitake.

¦ 07/21/94: Took maitake as prescribed, one teaspoon in morning and evening.

¦ 07/22/94: Continued regime.

¦ 07/23/94: Continued regime.

¦ 07/24/94: I cut myself and noticed blood was bright pink (oxygenation).

¦ 07/25/94: Felt higher energy levels and between ampcillin and maitake. Eye infection cleared up.

¦ 07/26/94: Continued higher energy level.

¦ 07/28/94:Certain facial lines appeared minimal compared to prior treatment.

¦ 07/29/94: Continued higher energy level.

¦ 07/30/94: Cut myself again and blood still bright pink.

¦ 07/31/ 94: Last day of taking maitake. Dr. Hughes wanted to have blood stabilized and then have blood panel done.... CD4/CD8 ratio went from 0.8 to 1.0 and HIV went from positive to negative.

 

While we can neither be sure about the initial diagnosis nor ascertain that the condition was thus reversed, it seems evident that Maitake D-fraction played some kind of positive role in this patient’s improvement, probably enhancing his overall immune health.

 

But, fortunately, we have additional evidence that beta-glucan is an important aspect of HIV/AIDS treatment—and this evidence offers further support for use of maitake by such patients:

 

¦ One study comes to us from the prestigious M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. In 1986, researchers administered an intravenous solution containing beta-glucan to end-stage AIDS patients who experienced notable improvements in several immune “markers,” including interleukin-1 and interleukin-2. Both of these are integral to healthy immune function.

 

¦ In another study, 20 male patients from 18 to 60 years of age with AIDS or Aids Related Complex (ARC) were enrolled in an evaluation of intravenously administered beta-glucan. Baseline and serial determinations of immune function were obtained. The treatment group exhibited elevations in their plasma interleukin-1, 2, and 3 levels, as well as improvement in helper-suppressor T-cell ratios with IV infusion of beta-1,3-glucan.  Elevation of interleukin-1, 2 , and 3 is indicative of immune enhancement and activation. Interleukin-2 enhancement in patients infected with HIV is of notable value, as the virus is known to infect helper T-cells responsible for the production of this important immune system messenger. The production of interleukin-2 alerts the dormant immune system of infectious assault, resulting in the multiplication of immune B-cells and interferon production.

 

¦ A particularly compelling study concerning HIV was conducted with a form of beta-glucan synthesized from glucose. It was established that beta-1,3-glucan inhibits the attachment of the HIV virus to T-cells. Even more compelling was the fact that after the virus and cells were exposed to beta-1,3-glucan for two weeks, complete inhibition of the replication of the HIV virus ensued. These results prompted a clinical trial in which the beta-1,3-glucan was administered intravenously to three HIV patients. A significant rise in immune system marker CD4 was accomplished.

 

In light of these improved immune system markers, treatment of immune-compromised patients with Maitake D-fraction or intravenous beta-glucan should be seriously considered.

 

Hepatitis

 

Hepatitis (meaning an inflammation of the liver) is caused by several different viruses. Hepatitis A is spread through contaminated water and food and is excreted in the stools. Hepatitis B is acquired from transfusions or other blood products. It can be transmitted through minute cuts or abrasions or by such simple acts as kissing, tooth brushing, ear piercing, tattooing, having dental work or during sexual contact. It can be transmitted from a pregnant woman to her baby. Hepatitis C, formerly called non-A, non-B hepatitis, is primarily spread through infected blood. It causes cirrhosis in 50 percent of cases.

 

Thus, taking care to insure a strong immune system, reducing high risk behavior, getting regular check-ups, and using a clinically validated daily liver care supplement are all important facets of a total liver health program.

 

In hepatitis, the liver often becomes tender and enlarged, and the patient usually exhibits symptoms including fever, weakness, nausea, vomiting, jaundice, and aversion to food, which can result in marked weight loss. The virus may be present in the bloodstream, intestines, feces, saliva, and in other bodily secretions.

 

Hepatitis is common in the United States but even more so in developing nations, and some forms of it can be extremely infectious. Most people recover from viral forms of the disease without treatment, but some die and others may develop a chronic, disabling illness.

 

Drs. Williams and Di Luzio initially undertook studies on the anti-viral potential of beta-1,3-glucan when they investigated viral hepatitis. The doctors observed that when beta-1,3-glucan was administered prior to, as well as after viral infection, maximum survival was achieved.

 

In contrast to the profound liver damage found in the control mice, beta-1,3-glucan- treated mice exhibited very little liver pathology. Normalization of liver enzyme and cell markers was observed in the treatment group indicating a return to healthful liver function.

 

Of greater significance was the observation that mice infected with viral hepatitis showed major impairment of macrophage function, but pretreatment with beta-1,3-glucan resulted in active macrophage function. These studies suggest that maintenance of activated macrophages results in a  heightened immune state, increased survival and inhibited liver damage.

 

“Thus, glucan is capable of increasing survival, inhibiting hepatic necrosis, and maintaining an activated state of phagocytic activity in mice challenged with MHV-A59. Macrophage stimulants may have a significant role in the modification of virally induced hepatic lesions.”

 

In light of this research, maitake mushroom, like other similar beta-glucans, should be considered a potent adjunctive therapy in the treatment of infectious liver disorders.

 

Recent studies at Institute of Health and Environmental Medicine, Tianjin, China, have confirmed the above. The research team investigated the inhibitory effect of Maitake D-fraction on hepatitis B virus (HBV), and found that Maitake D-fraction, in combination with human interferon (IFN), synergistically inhibited HBV replication.
 

This was emphasized earlier in a presentation by researchers at the International Symposium on Production and Products of Lentinus Mushroom, Qingyuan, Zhejiang, China, November 1-3, 1994. In their pilot study on hepatitis B patients, researchers from Zhejiang Medical University and the Edible Fungi Research Institute of Qingyuan, Zhejiang Province, China, teamed with doctors at the People’s Hospital of Qingyuan. They compared maitake with routine treatment. Thirty-two patients with longstanding hepatitis B were given either routine treatment or capsules containing maitake. Kenneth Jones summarized their findings:

 

“The researchers reported several promising outcomes: a comparatively higher recovery rate in alanine transferase levels in the maitakepolysaccharide group (72.7 percent) than in the control group (56.6 percent); a significantly higher rate of HbeAg seroconversion from positive to negative compared to the control group; and no side effects in the polysaccharide group.”

 

Herpes

 

The same research team at the Institute of Health and Environmental Medicine in Tianjin, China has observed that a highly concentrated extract from maitake inhibited herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) replication and significantly reduced the severity of various symptoms by the virus infection. They claimed that it is also effective by topical administration, indicating a direct inactivation of HSV-1 as well as simultaneous inhibition of HSV-1 from penetrating into Vero cells.

 

Common Cold and Flu

 

One of us (Dr. Konno) has been generously giving maitake powder caplets and maitake tea to four residents in his medical college’s department of urology. Every time they begin to get sick and their throats became scratchy, they start ingesting the caplets and tea. These seem to stop their symptoms. Even when they already have severe symptoms, their recovery is shortened.

 

MAITAKE AND BACTERIAL PATHOGENS

 

Ever since their discovery several decades ago, many studies have been conducted on beta-glucans to determine their protective benefits against bacterial pathogens. The studies below clearly demonstrate the power of betaglucans to support healthy immune function and their protective effect against a wide range of such pathogens. Because these studies were done on a wide range of beta-glucans, it is reasonable to conclude that maitake’s beta-glucans hold similar benefits:

 

Staph

 

Staph is the short name for Staphylococcus aureus (pronounced: sta-fuhlow-kah-kus are-ee-us) bacteria. Staph bacteria are the number one cause of hospital infections. They are blamed for about 13 percent of the nation’s two-million hospital infections each year, according to the CDC. Overall, the two-million infections kill 60,000 to 80,000 people. That number is climbing due to the fact that some staph infections are now impossible to treat even with our most powerful antibiotics.

 

The evolution of resistance to antibiotics is inevitable, as bacteria grow and reproduce. The cell wall has become much thicker, notes Dr. William Jarvis, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC. “As a result, it is much more difficult for the antibiotic to go across that cell wall and get inside the cell” to kill the organism.

 

Not all staph infections are deadly. Many teens and adults alike experience occasional outbreaks of staph-related boils on their face and sometimes back and shoulders, too. Such a boil may start out fairly small and itchy but can become big and red and sore. Usually these bacteria can live harmlessly on many skin surfaces, especially around the nose, mouth, genitals, and anus. But when the skin is punctured or broken for any reason, staph bacteria can enter the wound and cause an infection.

 

Staph bacteria can cause several different types of infections, including folliculitis, boils, scalded skin syndrome (which mostly affects infants and younger kids), impetigo, toxic shock syndrome, cellulitis, and other types of infections such as a bone infection called osteomyelitis.

 

Research shows that activating our macrophages is a key to prevention and treatment. In an experimental study, administration of beta-glucan prior to intravenous administration of the deadly bacterium Staphylococcus aureus resulted in “significantly increased survival.” Beta-glucan also “significantly inhibited renal necrosis associated with systemic staphylococcal diseases.”

 

In a 1979 study, these results were confirmed, in which it was found that intravenous injection of beta-glucan prior to intravenous challenge with staph “resulted in a significantly increased survival as compared to control mice.”

 

In a 1998 study of mice with severe bacterial infection (sepsis), beta-glucan boosted immunity sufficiently to decrease mortality by 300 percent, compared with untreated control animals.

 

Perhaps most important in our modern world where bacterial strains are increasingly resistant to antibiotics, beta-glucan also protected rodents infected by multiple antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by increasing phagocytic cells.

 

These results with lower life forms are likely to be duplicated in human clinical trials. For example, in one small study, it was found that staph patients in whom phagocytosis or bacteria-engulfing capabilities of their white blood cells was improved have been seen to do much better.

 

Tuberculosis

 

Various fungal beta-glucans were examined for immunopotentiating effects among post-chemotherapy mice in whom experimental tuberculosis was induced.  After being treated with a combination of chemotherapeutic drugs, the mice of each treated group were divided into three subgroups to receive or not to receive beta-glucan. The fungal beta-glucans helped to inhibit multiplication of tubercle bacilli in the lungs and spleen.

 

Sepsis

 

Also known as gram-negative or gram-positive bacteremia, sepsis is a serious infection caused by bacteria that have entered a wound or body tissue that leads to the formation of pus, or to the spread of the bacteria in the blood.

 

Sepsis is a result of a bacterial infection that can originate anywhere in the body. Common sites are the genitourinary tract, the liver or biliary (liver secretion) tract, the gastrointestinal tract, and the lungs. Less common sites are intravenous lines, surgical wounds, surgical drains, and sites of skin breakdown known as decubitus ulcers or bedsores. The infection can lead to shock (also known as septic shock). There has recently been an increase in the occurrence of sepsis caused by organisms that are resistant to most standard antibiotics.

 

Sepsis can be a life-threatening situation, especially in people with a weakened immune systems.

 

Hospitalization is necessary to achieve treatment goals. The death rate can be as high as 60 percent for people with severely low white blood cell counts or suppressed immune systems. In people with no underlying disease, the death rate is about five percent.

 

In an experimental study, intraabdominal sepsis was experimentally induced in rodents. Those receiving beta-glucan did much better, especially when combined with antibiotics. “It is concluded that glucan has a clear effect on the survival rate of rats with induced peritonitis, probably by enhancing the activities of reticuloendothelial system—an important part of the total host resistance.”

 

Lung Infections & Pneumonia

 

Pneumonia is a serious infection or inflammation of the lungs. The air sacs in the lungs fill with pus and other liquids. Oxygen has trouble reaching your blood. If there is too little oxygen in your blood, your body cells can’t work properly. Because of this, combined with spread of infection through the body, pneumonia can cause death.

 

Until 1936, pneumonia was the number one cause of death in the United States, although, since then, use of antibiotics brought it under control.

 

Nevertheless, in 1997, pneumonia and influenza combined ranked as the sixth leading causes of death.

 

Pneumonia affects your lungs in two ways. Lobar pneumonia affects a section (lobe) of a lung. Bronchial pneumonia (or bronchopneumonia) affects patches throughout both lungs.

 

Pneumonia is not a single disease. It can have over 30 different causes. There are five main causes of pneumonia:

 

¦ Bacteria.

¦ Viruses.

¦ Mycoplasmas.

¦ Other infectious agents, such as fungi, including pneumocystis.

¦ Various chemicals.

 

Bacterial pneumonia remains one of the leading causes of death and disability in the elderly. Bacterial pneumonia can attack anyone from infants through the very old. Alcoholics, the debilitated, post-operative patients, people with respiratory diseases or viral infections and people who have weakened immune systems are at greater risk.

 

Pneumonia bacteria are present in some healthy throats. When body defenses are weakened in some way, by illness, old age, malnutrition, general debility or impaired immunity, the bacteria can multiply and cause serious damage. Usually, when a person’s resistance is lowered, bacteria work their way into the lungs and inflame the air sacs. The infection quickly spreads through the bloodstream and the whole body is invaded.

 

Research performed with various types of beta-glucans has established that it is effective in combating lung infections in animal models—against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains.

 

In a 1983 laboratory study, beta-glucan was studied in rats and mice to determine its protective capacity in respiratory infections. Beta-glucan was administered intravenously to the rodents prior to infection with aerosolized bacterial strains, including Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae.

 

Gram-negative bacilli such as Klebsiella pneumoniae account for less than two percent of community-acquired pneumonias, but they do account for most hospital-acquired (nosocomial) pneumonias, including fatal ones. Beta-glucan was shown to be effective against both bacilli. “Glucan-treated rats had significantly increased rates of phagocytosis and killing of Staphylococcus aureus immediately after infection…” note the researchers. “In contrast, pulmonary killing of Klebsiella pneumoniae in rats was markedly enhanced by glucan at [four hours]…. Histological studies demonstrated greatly increased numbers of macrophages in the lungs of glucan-treated rats; the lungs of glucan-treated mice appeared normal. That results show that glucan can enhance intrapulmonary bacterial killing. In rats, this is due to the ability of glucan to increase the number of lung macrophages resulting in increased bacterial ingestion.”

 

E. Coli Infection

 

Escherichia coli is an emerging cause of food borne illness. An estimated 73,000 cases of infection and 61 deaths occur in the United States each year. Infection often leads to bloody diarrhea, and occasionally to kidney failure. Most illness has been associated with eating undercooked, contaminated ground beef. Person-to-person contact in families and childcare centers is also an important mode of transmission. Infection can also occur after drinking raw milk and after swimming in or drinking sewage-contaminated water.

 

E. coli O157:H7* is one of hundreds of strains of the bacterium Escherichia coli. Although most strains are harmless and live in the intestines of healthy humans and animals, this strain produces a powerful toxin and can cause severe illness. E. coli O157:H7 was first recognized as a cause of illness in 1982 during an outbreak of severe bloody diarrhea; the outbreak was traced to contaminated hamburgers. Since then, most  infections have come from eating undercooked ground beef.

 

In an experimental study, rats were subjected to either splenectomy (removal of the spleen) or sham laparotomy (simply surgical section of the abdominal wall) and then challenged with the introduction of E. coli into their bodies. Beta-glucan protected against E. coli-induced sepsis even in rats subjected to splenectomy.

 

Furthermore, beta-glucan has been shown to synergize antibiotics used against E. coli-induced sepsis.

 

We also know that glucan therapy increases bone marrow proliferation and enhanced phagocytosis of E. coli, based on in vitro studies.

 

Listeria Infection

 

Listeria monocytogenes is a kind of bacteria often found in soil and water, which can cause serious illness. Illness from eating foods (e.g., soft cheeses and processed meats) with Listeria monocytogenes is called listeriosis.

 

Most people do not get listeriosis. However, pregnant women and newborns, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems caused by cancer treatments, AIDS, diabetes, and kidney disease are at risk for becoming seriously ill from eating foods that contain Listeria monocytogenes.

 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, less than 2,000 people in the United States report serious illness from listeriosis each year. Of those reporting, approximately 25 percent die as a result of the illness.

 

In 1990, Japanese researchers demonstrated in an experimental murine study that orally administered beta-glucan could protect against Listeria monocytogenes. “An enhanced elimination in vivo of L. monocytogenes was observed at the relatively late phase of listerial infection.”

 

Leprosy

 

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease that usually affects the skin and peripheral nerves but has a wide range of possible clinical manifestations. It is caused by Mycobacterium leprae, which multiplies very slowly and mainly affects the skin, nerves, and mucous membranes. The organism has never been grown in bacteriologic media or cell culture, but has been grown in mouse footpads.

 

In 1999, the world incidence was estimated to be 640,000; and in 2000, 738,284 cases were identified. In 1999, 108 cases occurred in the United States. In 2000, WHO listed 91 countries as endemic, with India, Myanmar, and Nepal having 70 percent of cases.

 

Worldwide, one- to two-million persons are permanently disabled as a result of this disease. However, persons receiving antibiotic treatment or having completed treatment are considered free of active infection. Although the mode of transmission remains uncertain, most investigators think that M. leprae is usually spread from person to person in respiratory droplets.

 

In 1983, the effect of beta-glucan was studied on experimental murine leprosy . Of all the agents studied, beta-glucan was found to most highly activate the reticulo enodothelial system and to be “the most active inhibitor of the multiplication of Hansen’s bacilli,” say researchers.

 

PARASITES

 

Leishmania Donovani

 

Based on an experimental study, beta-glucan can help to protect against parasites. Intravenous administration of beta-glucan at the same time of infection by the protozoan parasite Leishmania donovani demonstrated that glucan-activated macrophages “significantly reduced multiplication of the intracellular parasite.” Not only does this show that otherwise healthy persons can better protect themselves against parasites with beta-glucan—this critical information is useful for persons with HIV/AIDS, especially as infection with Leishmania donovani among such persons may accelerate HIV replication, note researchers from the Armauer Hansen Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

 

Malaria

 

Malaria is by far the world’s most important tropical parasitic disease, and kills more people than any other communicable disease except tuberculosis. In many developing countries, and in Africa especially, malaria exacts an enormous toll in lives, in medical costs, and in days of labor lost. The causative agents in humans are four species of plasmodium protozoa (single-celled parasites): P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale and P. malariae. Of these, P. falciparum accounts for the majority of infections and is the most lethal. Malaria is a curable disease if promptly diagnosed and adequately treated.

 

Thanks to a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the U.S. Army Medical Command, researchers Alenka Lovy and Barbara Knowles, of the Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University, Pullman, and Ronald Labbe and researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, tested 10 edible mushroom species for their anti-malarial activity. Of all mushrooms, maitake was rated as having the greatest antimalarial activity. These findings may be especially relevant today, as malaria appears to be spreading into the United States.

 

FUNGAL INFECTION

 

Candida

 

Beta-glucan is also experimentally effective against Candida albicans, another troubling infectious agent. In an experimental study, infection with candida resulted in a paltry 20 percent survival rate following surgery. However, with administration of beta-glucan, the survival rate rose to 73 percent. “Glucan significantly enhanced macrophage  phagocytic function…,” note the researchers.

 

PROTECTION IN THE HOSPITAL

 

Are you going to the hospital or do you know someone who is? Then, you will want to make sure that beta-glucan is part of a protective regimen.

 

In a 1994 report, the benefits of beta-glucan were examined in a double blind, placebo-controlled multi-center study. Patients scheduled for surgery were given beta-glucan before and immediately following thoracic (high-risk) surgery. Those who received the immune agent experienced decreased postoperative infections.

 

The bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae accounts for a significant proportion of hospital-acquired urinary tract infections, pneumonia, septicemias (i.e., presence of pathogenic bacterial in the bloodstream), and soft tissue infections. Because of its ability to spread rapidly in the hospital environment, this bacterium can be particularly troubling. In a 1983 experimental study, bacterial infection of the lung was induced with Klebsiella pneumoniae. Treatment with beta-glucan resulted in “markedly enhanced” activity of macrophages against the bacterium and led to greater bacterial ingestion (phagocytosis). “These observations suggest that biologic response modifiers such as glucan may be effectively employed in patients who are at risk for post-operative infections.”

 

USED WITH ANTIBIOTICS

 

Beta-glucan is particularly useful as an additive treatment when persons are prescribed antibiotics and other anti-infective agents.

 

Scientists have found lower dosages of antibiotics or antivirals are required when _-1,3/1,6-D-glucan is added to the medication regimen in animals challenged with different bacterial, fungal and viral pathogens, including Staphylococcus auras, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Escherichia coli, as well as the herpes zoster virus.

 

Notes Phil Wyde, Ph.D., of the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, “This demonstration of bactericidal enhancement via oral dosing suggests an application for beta-1,3-glucan as a component in a combined modality with conventional anti-infective agents. Beta-glucan, through the stimulation of host defense systems, creates a more supportive environment within the body to assist the primary killing action of the conventional agent.”