This Nasty Medieval Remedy Kills MRSA
An ancient brew could lead to modern-day drugs to fight the superbug
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Why would scientists revive a thousand-year-old medical recipe for a foul-smelling concoction? They suspected it could have a very real benefit, and it turns out they were right. An Anglo-Saxon brew kills methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , or MRSA, scientists from the U.K. have announced .
When microbiologist Freya Harrison chatted with Christina Lee, an Anglo-Saxon scholar, she was intrigued by a nasty-sounding recipe in Bald’s Leechbook , a thousand-year-old compendium of medical advice and potions. Here’s the recipe, which was recommended to fight infected eyelash follicles (styes):
Take cropleek and garlic, of both equal quantities, pound them well together… take wine and bullocks gall, mix with the leek… let it stand nine days in the brass vessel…
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"Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,--
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."
Macbeth (IV, i, 14-15)
And Truimp wants to cut funding for the NIH -- go figure!
Eye of Newt?
when the team tested the brew on scraps of MRSA-infected mouse skin, it killed 90 percent of the bacteria, results comparable to those achieved by the leading antibiotic given to fight the superbug.
Wow, That's amazing!
when the team tested the brew on scraps of MRSA-infected mouse skin, it killed 90 percent of the bacteria, results comparable to those achieved by the leading antibiotic given to fight the superbug.
Wow, That's amazing!
If they can replicate those results-- it really is!
I have tried various types of herbal medicines over the years.
Results range from pretty amazing all the way to some that seem like mere superstitions (they seem to have no effect at all).
Generally speaking (other than the degree of effectiveness) there an upside and a downside to most traditional herbal remedies as opposed to conventional medicine:
1. The downside-- since you're working with plants, the potency of different batches of the same plant varies. And for the most part, there's no standardization (as you would have with conventional Rx drugs).
2. The upside-- more often than not traditional herbals remedies don't have the negative side effects that often accompany conventional medicines. (I've known people who have taken a Rx drug for a condition-- and them had to be on another one just to counter the side effects of the first one . . .
What a cool discovery! I wonder what else they will find out in that book. And no R&D!!
What a cool discovery! I wonder what else they will find out in that book. And no R&D!!
Yup. The R&D was done many, many years ago-- by previous generations of witches!
And handed down through the centuries.
“With the nine-day waiting period, the preparation turned into a kind of loathsome, odorous slime,”
Hold your nose & drink up !
“With the nine-day waiting period, the preparation turned into a kind of loathsome, odorous slime,”
Hold your nose & drink up !
Yes-- there's nothing quite as invigorating as drinking a batch of loathsome, odorous slime when you're feeling down-- LOL!
(I wonder if I can get some on Amazon.com? They sell just about everything else now-a-days)
My daughter got a MRSA infection while in the hospital. It took over a year to heal, and now she has a scar on her cleavage from it. I hear that hospitals are one of the surest places to get infected.
My daughter got a MRSA infection while in the hospital. It took over a year to heal, and now she has a scar on her cleavage from it. I hear that hospitals are one of the surest places to get infected
I've heard some pretty horrifiying stories about it. Also some similar "Superbugs". (I believe that because of over-prescribing anti-biotics in the past, some bacteria developped a resistance to some of the most powerful antibiotics-- a scary situation indeed).
And of course hospitals are full of--sick people. So infections can spread if they don't take proper measures. (I've heard that since the appearance of these "Superbugs" the hospitals have introduced much more stringent sanitary procedures-- but its a tough battle).
And no R&D!!
Yeah, but some pharmaceutical company will still figure out a way to patent it and charge $1,000 (or more!) a shot for it.
I think the FDA is in the pocket of big pharma. The system is unbelieveably corrupt. (Drug companies take regulators out to dinner, given them expensive gifts as bribes, etc-- so they'll approve drugs that shouidn't be).
They do similar things with doctors so doctors prescribe certain drugs over theior competitors-- or prescribe drugs when not necessary. (Which I believe was actually a major factor in the development of these Superbugs-- with over-use of antibiotics, it was inevitable that bacteria developedp immunity)