ABSTRACT
Man has been described as an obligate aerobe. Oxygen floods the lungs, dissolves in the bloodstream, and spills into a thousand capillaries as a great waterfall aerates a mighty river. The same blood that brings oxygen is the route of choice for many Pharmaceuticals that can only reach the innermost depths of the body via this route to dispense their therapeutic properties. The word parenteral is derived from the Greek “para” (beyond) and “enteral” (gut) because it bypasses the digestive system. This route is so effective it necessitates a level of cleanliness that approaches the absolute. A single viable organism, bacteria or virus, thusly introduced into the body evades all but the final mechanism of defense and so the medicine designed to bring life could bring infection, fever, shock, or death. Man’s war against microbes is never ultimately won. They are deeply entrenched in the air, water, and soil. The body itself is occupied: 1% or more of the human genome consists of retroviral sequences, and microbes on and in the body outnumber the cells that compose the body by 10-to 20-fold (1). Microbes are legion; ubiquitous, unmerciful, and untiring. On a personal basis, those occupying us now, or their offspring, will decompose us when we die. They can be eradicated only in small places and for a short time.
