Staph infections are one of the most pervasive and annoying bacterial infections faced by hospital every yr . It infects half a million people in the US every year , with symptom ramble from skin infection to mettle problem — and worse , some strain ( commonly known as MRSA ) have evolved to reject common antibiotics .
As it turn out , knightly community also faced staphylococci — in fussy , with staph get oculus sores promise styes . Our ancestor had an old - timey cure , too , written in Old English in Bald ’s Leechbook :
Take cropleek and garlic , of both equal quantities , pound them well together , take wine and bullock ’ gall , of both equal quantities , mix with the leek , put this then into a brazen vessel , let it stand nine day in the brass vessel , extort out through a material and exculpated it well , put it into a cornet , and about dark time use it with a feather to the middle ; the best leechdom .
Christina Lee , the Viking studies professor who came across the formula , decided to take it to a microbiologist at her university to quiz . They fastidiously followed the recipe — not easy , when since modern craw varieties differ importantly to the honest-to-god one .
They tested the homebrew potion on rubbish of skin taken from mouse infect with methicillin - immune Staphylococcus aureus , the most difficult - to - kill version of staph . Surprisingly , the formula kill 90 per cent of the bacteria — the same success rate as Vancomycin , the drug infirmary use to treat MRSA . An American researcher bring to the project launch a similar charge per unit when he repeat the result .
Now , investigator need to work out which particular compound worked the magic . The team also tested the individual ingredient on their own , and found no effect on the MRSA strain ; it seems that there ’s something about steeping in a brazen watercraft that bacteria just does n’t care . ( Of course , it ’s worth refer thattest - tube results do n’t always play out so wellin the material world . )
The finding are due to be gift at a conference this week in Birmingham , UK . Until then , just make trusted you stock up on garlic , bile salt , and wine . Particularly the wine . [ New Scientist ]
scientific discipline
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