Has a MRSA cure been hiding in the text of a 1,000 year old book?
Doctors set out to recreate a 1,000-year-old recipe that was originally intended to fight eye infections. The recipe consists of garlic, onion (or leeks), cow bile and wine. After they successfully recreated the recipe, they found something
amazing:
They found the remedy killed up to 90% of MRSA bacteria and believe it is the effect of the recipe rather than one single ingredient.
Dr Freya Harrison said the team thought the eye salve might show a "small amount of antibiotic activity".
"But we were absolutely blown away by just how effective the combination of ingredients was," she said.
The recipe was in
Bald's Leechbook, one of the first known medical texts, dating back to mid-tenth century.
MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant superbugs pose a major threat for hospitals and patients, often with deadly results.
The team is presenting their findings at the Annual Conference of the Society for General Microbiology, in Birmingham, England. Here's to hoping this ancient manual holds the key for treating antibiotic-resistant superbugs in the modern day.