PROBIOTICS OPEN A NEW FRONT AGAINST INFECTIONS 

                   MADE IN NOVOSIBIRSK.                             

PEOPLE WHO MEAN BUSINESS

           Numerous surveys conducted on the threshold of the new century showed that antibiotics are considered one of the outstanding discoveries of the XX century. But will they remain the symbol of the century we’ve just entered? 
       The agents of infectious diseases become resistant to antibiotics. The drugs which used to save millions of lives are now worthless. Why does it happen?
      
      
       Only microbes can save us from microbes
      
       The principal solution to the problem has long been known. It lies in the development of the so-called probiotics – the products based on microorganisms which actively destroy pathogenic microflora.
       ”The world of cells can be roughly divided into two kinds”, explains Lelyak, "microbe cells and the cells that make up the human body. The microbe cells that are parasitic on the human body can also be divided into two kinds – to those who are for us and those who are against us. Let’s call them "white” and "black” warriors. 
       "Black” warriors have a very good appetite and, reproducing in our bodies, poison it. The result is that we perish from infection. "White” warriors are our defenders. For millions of years, every second of their lives, they fight the "black” warriors for our health (and their food) and they always win. It is these "white warriors” which are the active force in probiotics. We can even say that probiotics are not drugs but immunocorrectors of the physiological activity of all warm-blooded animals, including humans. They normalize the state of intestinal microflora and enhance the immunity which then allows the body to cope with all diseases on its own.”
       Many years of research have shown that microorganisms selected by evolution as the body's beneficial companions play a crucial role in maintaining the health of humans, animals and plants. The attempt of humans to defend themselves against harmful microbes by chemical treatment of vegetables, in order to increase their storage time, has led to a chronic shortage of beneficial microflora which also enters our bodies through fruit and vegetables. This is why the number of bacteria playing the protective, sanitary role has sharply decreased. So, it became necessary to make up for the deficit of "friendly” microflora.
       The main difficulty for the scientists was how to locate and "educate” these skillful fighters for our health. This was the task set before the group of Novosibirsk biotechnologists headed by Alexander Lelyak.
       The scientists of the Research Center have successfully extracted some bacteria which are friendly to humans. These bacteria actively propagate in the "host” organism without any harmful effects and develop in the way which lets them to build up the most effective defense against alien microbes. After their mission is completed the bacteria are extracted from the organism or their number is significantly reduced.
       "The new way of creating medications”, says Alexander Lelyak, "is in full correspondence with the direction of the evolutionary process, this is why they are so effective for the treatment and prevention of the widest range of infectious diseases of humans and animals. Pathogenic microflora cannot in principle adapt to the bacteria contained in our products because they are hardened in their ever-going fight with the "black warriors”.
      
     
       Valentin ROMANOV.
      
      
       Our file:
       The term "probiotics" was proposed by Richard and Parker in 1977 to define microorganisms and products from their fermentation which have an antagonistic effect on microfloral pathogens. But the first person to inform the world about this phenomenon was the Russian biologist, Ilya Mechnikov, who summarized isolated experimental data on the study of the phenomenon of antagonism. His doctrine of the premature death of humans due to constant intoxication of the body by the products of intestinal saprogenous bacteria has received wide recognition and practical application.Microorganisms used as probiotics are divided into 4 groups, including common yeast.