All phytocannabinoids from the cannabis plant have an activity that kills or prevents the development of various microorganisms, which explains CBD’s ability to cure infectious diseases. It has recently emerged that CBD also has a very strong antibiotic capacity against bacteria that are resistant to all types of antibiotics.

Possible causes of the formation of different types of infectious diseases

Bacteria

A single-celled organism can cause a wide range of diseases ranging from mild diseases such as streptococcal pharyngitis or urinary tract infection to serious diseases such as tuberculosis or meningitis. CBD is an antibacterial natural substance.

Viruses

The virus is smaller than a bacterium and does not have independent life capability and lives only within other living cells. It causes many diseases, some very common ones such as mild colds and flu, and some are rarer like AIDS or SARS COVID-19 (corona). The complication from a viral disease is caused as a result of the weakening of cell membranes & tissues boundaries that exposes them to the attack of bacteria. CBD can strengthen the walls of cells and thus protect them from viruses.

Fungi

Mainly cause skin diseases like nail fungus. However, fungi can also cause serious systemic diseases in the lungs or nervous system and the reproduction system. There are cannabis chemovars (strains) that contain caryophyllene oxide sesquiterpene, which is a fungi-destroying substance.

Parasites

Diseases caused by parasites are less common in the Western world. Parasites cause diseases such as malaria or river blindness in less developed countries.

Do types of infectious diseases pass or get complicated?

Usually, infections pass lightly without the need for special treatment, and sometimes even the patient is unaware that he is going through infectious disease. Sometimes the infection can cause different complications. Due to an infection, a permanent injury to the organ where the infection occurs, such as inflammation of the kidney (pyelonephritis), or damage to other organs from the initial infection target, such as rheumatic fever. Some infections can also cause cancer, infections such as AIDS, Covid-19, pneumonia, meningitis, which are potentially life-threatening.

Types of infectious diseases

Infectious diseases that have been common in the past:

Whooping cough, ascaccria (diphtheria), syphilis, typhoid, measles, mumps, pediatric paralysis (polio), and tuberculosis.

Infectious diseases only reported in recent years:

Campylobacter, leishmania, listeria and chlamydia. Influenza flu depends on the season. The Ministry of Health’s recommendations for the flu vaccine are ineffective and do not protect against the strain of the virus that attacked during that winter season.

CBD can prevent the development of influenza bacteria in the first place regardless of a specific vaccine.

MRSA Violent Bacterium

In 2007, researchers from Italy and the United Kingdom found that in addition to THC, the cannabis plant has at least 4 more molecules, with antibacterial properties capable of eliminating 6 different types of violent bacteria resistant to conventional antibiotics. One of the most important discoveries was summarized: CBD and THC have strong activity against a violent bacterium that does not respond and is resistant to antibiotics – Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). Violent MRSA bacteria affect more than 100,000 people in the United States alone each year, of which 18,000 are deceased.

Prion Diseases

The antibiotic feature of CBD makes it especially effective in stopping the development of prion diseases such as “mad cow disease” and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Prion is a deformed protein that once penetrates the brain tissue it reproduces and replicates rapidly and shrinks brain tissues that become “spongy”. The damage is irreversible and degeneration of the nervous system usually develops.

It is now known that cannabidiol prevents the accumulation of prions and protects the nervous system cells from their toxicity. These discoveries are extremely important because prions are proteins that are very difficult to eliminate from the body and currently there is no cure or a life-saving treatment in the medical arsenal.

Viral Jaundice – Hepatitis B Virus (HBV)

“Jaundice” is an overall name for a series of diseases that cause hepatitis, which is expressed, among other things, in a yellowish hue of the skin, face, and eyeball. This colour is generated as a result of the accumulation of excess Bilirubin due to liver dysfunction.

First, the virus causes an acute disease that lasts several weeks, followed by a complete recovery or development of chronic hepatitis B. The chronic disease can cause severe liver damage and various complications such as cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Jaundice may be caused for various reasons:

• During childbirth – jaundice of the new-born

• As a result of drinking a lot of alcohol

• As a result of the accumulation of toxins (as a side effect for taking various synthetic medications)

• Clogging jaundice as a result of a benign or malignant tumour in the bile or liver

• Bacterial jaundice due to bacterial infection

• Viral jaundice due to virus infection

CBD and treatment of viral jaundice

CBD has properties that protect the liver from severe impairment of function. A study of laboratory mice with experimental hepatitis treated with CBD showed a decrease in liver damage. The anti-inflammatory action of CBD is significant in the treatment of viral jaundice along with its antioxidant properties.

Lyme Disease

Lyme disease (Borreliosis) is a disease most often caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi but also by the bacteria from the species Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii (mainly in Europe). The early stage of the disease is characterized by headache, fever, fatigue, depression, and a skin rash called Erythema Migrans. If the patient does not receive treatment, most different systems of the body will be damaged, such as the nervous system, joints, and heart. In most cases, if the patient is diagnosed in the early stages of the disease and receives antibiotic treatment, he will recover from the disease. Delayed diagnosis of the disease or receiving inappropriate treatment can cause acute symptoms of the disease that are difficult to treat.

CBD as a treatment of Lyme Disease

There are many anecdotal reports of patients with Lyme disease who experience self-medication with CBD. Patients report that the feeling of fatigue decreased dramatically throughout the day, energy and positivity also caused the general mental state to rise. Nausea also began to disappear, and the inflammations that cause joint, back, and chest pains were significantly reduced. Other patients describe the first effect of reducing sleeping pills and painkillers as CBD has addressed naturally sleep and pain problems.

Many specialists quickly resort to pharmaceutical antibiotics when treating this infection. However, scientific studies confirm the effectiveness of CBD to combat both mild and severe symptoms of Lyme disease. These studies reveal that CBD has the ideal healing properties, making it an appropriate and adequate supplement to improve the quality of life of people suffering from Lyme disease. The CBD compound exerts an antibacterial effect1, decreases pain caused by peripheral neuropathy, reduces headache and nausea, strengthens the immune system, provides anticonvulsant properties, and controls nerve episodes, anxiety, and depression.

A study conducted in 2008 showed that the consumption of CBD-rich strains can effectively fight the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. The study further observed that the antimicrobial effect of CBD is highly effective against bacteria resistant to antibiotics.

As a personal testimony, one patient indicated that smoking CBD regularly helped her to reduce the seizures she suffered as a result of this disease. Just like this, there are countless testimonies from patients who have managed to mitigate the ailments of Lyme disease thanks to the use of CBD. One study found that T cells that trigger inflammation are associated with molecules produced by Lyme disease, which activates T cells to produce & release inflammatory molecules. Due to the suppression of the FAAH enzyme that breaks down endocannabinoids, more active eCBs remain that bind both CB1 and CB2 receptors. In doing so, cannabidiol suppresses T cells and prevents them from reacting with Lyme disease-infected cells.

Tuberculosis (TB)

Infectious disease, caused by Mycobacterium bacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The typical tuberculosis injury is in the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. The disease is airborne when the infection from person to person is caused by the cough of a sick person. The disease is known as “white death”. Tuberculosis is one of the most common causes of death of all ages worldwide. The number of deaths worldwide (due to infectious diseases) as a result of this disease is second after AIDS to the number of deaths from infection. About 95% of the cases worldwide were diagnosed as tuberculosis infections and as a result of it were in third-world countries. About a third of the world’s population is infected with tuberculosis, and each year about 1% of the population is infected. In 2016, there were more than 10 million cases of active tuberculosis worldwide, leading to 1.3 million deaths.

A 1955 study conducted at the National Institute of Nutrition in Czechoslovakia found that the only effective treatment for tuberculosis is hemp seed oil. The protein Edestine found in the seeds of the hemp plant is considered the closest compound to the globulin. Globulin is one of the three groups of proteins that make up plasma (along with albumin and fibrinogen). Some globulins are formed in the liver, while others are formed by the immune system. The protein Edstein is easily digestible and is considered the best protein for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Gonorrhoea

According to a new study conducted and published in January 2021 at the University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia by Professor Mark Blaskovitz and his partners, cannabidiol (CBD) may kill the bacteria responsible for gonorrhoea, meningitis, and Legionnaires’ disease

In Australia, gonorrhoeic is the second most severe sexually transmitted infection, and there is not yet a single antibiotic reliable to treat because these bacteria are particularly effective in developing antibiotic resistance. The treatment of the disease is through taking a few kinds of antibiotics. In the past, penicillin was used for this purpose, but in light of the emergence of penicillin-resistant bacteria, other drugs from the cephalosporin group are now used.

Legionnaire’s disease

Legionellosis is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Legionella pneumophila. Since the symptoms are similar to pneumonia, this causes misdiagnosis. The disease can be treated with antibiotics if it is detected in time. Five to thirty per cent of patients die from the disease. Between 8,000 and 18,000 people contract the disease each year in the United States alone.

The Legionella pneumophila bacteria are found naturally in freshwater. It can contaminate hot water tanks, hot tubs, and cooling towers of large air conditioners. It is usually spread by breathing in the mist that contains the bacteria. It can also occur when contaminated water is aspirated. It typically does not spread directly between people, and most people who are exposed do not become infected. Risk factors for infection include older age, a history of smoking, chronic lung disease, and poor immune function. Diagnosis is by a urinary antigen test and sputum culture. No vaccine is yet available. Treatment of Legionnaires’ disease is with antibiotics. Recommended agents include fluoroquinolones, azithromycin, or doxycycline. Legionnaires’ disease is the cause of an estimated 2–9% of pneumonia cases that are acquired outside of a hospital. While it can occur any time of the year, it is more common in the summer and fall. The disease is named after the outbreak where it was first identified, at a 1976 American Legion convention in Philadelphia.

Meningitis

Meningitis Is an acute inflammatory disease of the soft membranes of the brain and spinal cord, caused mainly by a bacterial and/or viral infection, but in some cases also from other microorganisms such as fungal and parasites. Most cases of meningitis are caused by a viral infection – 85%. A bacterial disease (15%) is life-threatening, and therefore in a bacterial disease, medical teams will begin providing broad-spectrum antibiotics even before receiving the microbiological laboratory’s response regarding the cause of the disease.

The research team at the University of Queensland has discovered that cannabidiol (CBD) can kill several different strains of bacteria, which may pave the way for a new type of natural antibiotic. It is worth noting that for 60 years, no new antibiotics have been developed to treat these bacteria. “This is the first time CBD has been shown to kill certain types of Gram-negative bacteria,” lead researcher and university associate Professor Mark Blaskovic said in a statement. “These bacteria have another external membrane, another line of defence, that makes it difficult for antibiotics to penetrate. Gram-negative bacteria can cause gonorrhoea, meningitis, Legionnaires’ diseases, and other infections that are difficult to treat with traditional antibiotics. The findings are particularly exciting because new molecules of antibiotics have not been discovered and approved since the 1960s against gram-negative bacterial infections, and we can now consider designing new ANALOGUES of CBD with enhanced properties. We think cannabidiol kills bacteria by exploding their outer cell membranes, but we still don’t know exactly the mechanism of action in its entirety, and more research needs to be done.’ {Interestingly, at the beginning of the study on Phyto-cannabinoids, before the discovery of the receptors CB1 and CB2, it was thought that the effect of PCBs was due to increased FLUIDITY of cell membranes}.

More Disclosures

The study also found that CBD can also kill gram-positive bacteria, including MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant form of staph bacteria increasingly found in health facilities. The researchers believe that cannabinoids can help kill these bacteria by breaking down biofilms — sticky layers of bacterial accumulation that help MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant bacteria protect against traditional antibiotics. (Bacterial biofilms) These new studies will add to a growing body of research examining the antibiotic potential of cannabis. A study last year found that CBG (cannabigerol), another non-psychoactive cannabinoid, can kill MRSA bacteria and help break down treatment-resistant biofilms. Dental health researchers have also discovered that CBD, CBG, and other cannabinoids can fight the formation of holes in the teeth by killing bacteria formed as dental plaques on the teeth and gums. In Israel, researchers are working on creating synthetic cannabinoid derivatives that can help combat gastrointestinal infections”.

Summary – CBD as a treatment of infectious diseases

Phyto-cannabinoids have long been known as extremely potent antibacterial compounds. Cannabidiol in particular proves to be capable of inhibiting or killing bacteria, parasites, and even strains of violent bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. Many consumers from all over the world who experience taking CBD oil, report a better overall health condition. In the case of influenza, CBD treatment may not be a substitute for conventional medical treatment. But it can certainly be supportive of such treatment. Pharmaceutical companies are already reporting tens of per cent decline in the consumption of conventional synthetic drugs among patients trying CBD treatment.

Additional materials on the prevention of infectious diseases:

• CBD could kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria

• Association between a polymorphism in cannabinoid receptor 2 and severe necroinflammation in patients with chronic hepatitis

• Immunoregulatory Role of Cannabinoids during Infectious Disease

• Cannabinoids and Viral Infections

• The antimicrobial potential of cannabidiol

• Research establishes the antibiotic potential for cannabis molecule