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Photo by Jon Anderson
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Dr. Weily Soong, managing partner of the Alabama Allergy and Asthma Center, talks at the Homewood Chamber of Commerce luncheon at The Club on Tuesday, March 15, 2016.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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Michael Whitten of Alliance Publishing and Becca Thomas of HealthSouth Lakeshore Rehabilitation Hospital were among guests at the Homewood Chamber of Commerce luncheon at The Club on Tuesday, March 15, 2016.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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Allison Schmidt and Rob Gray of Eskridge and White Motion Therapy were among guests at the Homewood Chamber of Commerce luncheon at The Club on Tuesday, March 15, 2016.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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Helen Combs, Nancy Higginbotham and Jason Biddy of the Alabama Allergy and Asthma Center were among guests at the Homewood Chamber of Commerce luncheon at The Club on Tuesday, March 15, 2016.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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Linda Allison of A.C. Financial Partners, at left, Porter Hutto of Standard Heating and Air and Susan Norton of A.C. Financial Partners were among guests at the Homewood Chamber of Commerce luncheon at The Club on Tuesday, March 15, 2016.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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Guests at the Homewood Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Tuesday, March 15, 2016, included, from left, Ethan Vice of U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer's office, Terry Preston of the Jimmie Hale Mission and Fred Johnston of Express Oil Change and Tire Engineers.
It’s not every day you get shown pictures of E. coli bacteria while you’re eating lunch.
But that’s exactly what happened today as Homewood Chamber of Commerce members munched on their orange rolls at the chamber luncheon at The Club.
Dr. Weily Soong, managing partner for the Alabama Allergy and Asthma Center, was the speaker and was making the point that humans are covered up with bacteria, fungi and viruses – in our mouths, tonsils, lungs, nose, skin, saliva, gut and feces.
About 90 percent of the genes in the human body are not even human, Soong said. And, of course, we don’t keep all those bacteria to ourselves. There is truly a microbial cloud that follows us around, just like the Pigpen character from the Peanuts cartoon, he said.
“We’re all Pigpens, spewing and sharing microbes,” Soong said.
Despite the concentration of foreign matter in our bodies, humans made great strides in fighting viruses, bacteria and infectious diseases from the 1950s to the 2000s, he said. With the help of vaccines, we have decimated measles, mumps, hepatitis A and tuberculosis, he said.
But the increased use of antibiotics and more health-conscious habits such as using hand sanitizer in Western countries and affluent and urban areas also has led to an increase in allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases, Soong said.
The number of people diagnosed with food allergies has doubled in just the past 10 to 15 years, he said.
So now, instead of trying to use antibiotics to kill all bacteria, doctors more often are trying to pinpoint exactly what bacteria is causing problems in a given person’s body, Soong said. The goal is to look at people’s lifestyle and environment and pick antibiotics that work for them, based on their diet, exercise, medications and where they live and the amount of air pollution there, he said.
It’s more “personalized medicine” and focusing on wellness instead of just medication, he said.
One woman in the audience asked Soong what people can do to avoid becoming one of his patients. Soong said exercise and maintaining a healthy diet are good strategies. “Sitting is worse than smoking,” he said.
Plus, he recommends being more selective about the use of antibiotics instead of running to get an antibiotic every time you get a sinus infection. Most sinus infections will go away within a week if people will be a little patient, he said.