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Page 27
| an ointment and/or a douche may be used. A douche can be prepared by adding one-half to one teaspoon of echinacea tincture to one pint of water or douching solution. I recommend adding one-half tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to the solution as well. |
| Increasing Macrophage Activity |
| As mentioned above, echinacea has the ability to enhance macrophage activity. Macrophages are relatively large cells that line the blood vessel walls and organ tissue and are present in the mucosa. They become highly active with inflammation. Their primary function, as previously discussed, is to destroy invading pathogens by eating them. They also stimulate the formation of antibodies, sensitize lymphocytes to invading pathogens and are actively involved in host defenses against bacterial or viral infection, seeking out and destroying invaders. |
| If the skin is broken, macrophages are mobilized to the area to combat infection. In the lymph system, macrophages in the nodes filter out and eat up invading bacteria. In the lungs, macrophages along the alveoli either destroy or trap pathogens. The liver is an especially huge reservoir of tissue macrophages known as Kuppfer cells. One of the liver's primary blood supplies originates from the gastrointestinal tract. Because of this, huge amounts of pathogenic bacteria are carried from the bowels into the liver. Before the blood makes it into the primary circulation it has to pass through the sinuses of the liver, which are lined with Kuppfer cells. These sinuses represent such a sophisticated filtering system that almost no bacteria can make it into the blood via this route. |
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