Beyond antibiotics — Using transfer factors to help defeat common ailments and orphaned diseases, prevent pandemics and boost general health by strengthening the immune system. Too good to be true?

Aaron White, PhD

We are coming to the end of a golden era in medicine, one in which we can count on antibiotics to cure nasty bacterial infections and outbreaks of all but a few potentially deadly viruses have been contained. Unfortunately, drug resistant strains of bacteria have been springing up faster than you can say “gonorrhea ” and everyone agrees that viral pandemics are just a matter of time. It is becoming clear that we have underestimated the role of viruses, and viral-like forms of bacteria (mycoplasma), in everything from cancer to chronic joint pain. We have also underestimated the importance of a healthy immune system in preventing and beating current and emerging threats. In a way, this is good news, as real progress can now begin. While drug company researchers work on novel drugs to sell, one of our best hopes for the future of disease treatment and prevention might rest in a discovery made more than 50 years ago – something called transfer factors. Transfer factors are short strands of amino acids and RNA that can tell newly born immune cells what to go after, how to do it, and when to stop. Researchers have figured out how to make custom transfer factors for essentially any disease with an identifiable pathogen. They can be used to treat patients infected with anything from herpes to hepatitis and protect those yet to be exposed. In this review, we will discuss the discovery of transfer factors, research regarding their potential value in disease treatment and prevention, and examine unanswered questions regarding how and when to use them.

The immune system consists of a powerful army of cells that wander around our bodies and brains, looking for potentially disease-causing visitors, whether they are viruses, bacteria, fungi, or parasites. Once found, these unwanted guests are destroyed or corralled so that the harm they cause is minimized. Cells that detect foreign invaders either destroy them or send for backup. Other cells move to the area to help wage war against them. Newly created immune system cells are recruited as soldiers in the wars. They are given instructions about what to go after, how to recognize it, how to defeat it, and when to stop. This story plays itself out everyday inside of our bodies. We only become aware of the battles once they get ferocious enough to affect how we think and feel.