Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
Posted on 07/13/2015 7:44:06 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
This may not be the biggest news story of the day, but it must be the most curious. As you are no doubt aware, there is great concern over resistance to conventional antibiotics. “Superbugs” are developing that are not easily killed with known medicines. So someone at the University of Nottingham, in England, thought to try an ancient remedy: a salve for eye infections found in Bald’s Leechbook, a 10th century Saxon volume in the British Library. The results were surprising:
A one thousand year old Anglo-Saxon remedy for eye infections which originates from a manuscript in the British Library has been found to kill the modern-day superbug MRSA in an unusual research collaboration at The University of Nottingham.
Dr Christina Lee, an Anglo-Saxon expert from the School of English has enlisted the help of microbiologists from the University’s Centre for Biomolecular Sciences to recreate a 10th century potion for eye infections from Bald’s Leechbook, an Old English leatherbound volume in the British Library, to see if it really works as an antibacterial remedy. The Leechbook is widely thought of as one of the earliest known medical textbooks and contains Anglo-Saxon medical advice and recipes for medicines, salves and treatments.
Early results on the “potion”, tested in vitro at Nottingham and backed up by mouse model tests at a university in the United States, are, in the words of the US collaborator, “astonishing”. The solution has had remarkable effects on Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) which is one of the most antibiotic-resistant bugs costing modern health services billions.
So what exactly is the potion? It doesn’t contain eye of newt, but close:
The recipe calls for two species of Allium (garlic and onion or leek), wine and oxgall (bile from a cow’s stomach). It describes a very specific method of making the topical solution including the use of a brass vessel to brew it in, a straining to purify it and an instruction to leave the mixture for nine days before use.
There is much more at the link, also here:
“[W]e found that Bald’s eyesalve is incredibly potent as an anti-Staphylococcal antibiotic in this context,” Harrison said.
“We were going from a mature, established population of a few billion cells, all stuck together in this highly protected biofilm coat, to really just a few thousand cells left alive. This is a massive, massive killing ability.”
This is all via Dr. Judith Curry’s excellent web site.
Give the whole thing!
From “the Court Jester”
Hawkins: I’ve got it! I’ve got it! The pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right?
Griselda: Right. But there’s been a change: they broke the chalice from the palace!
Hawkins: They *broke* the chalice from the palace?
Griselda: And replaced it with a flagon.
Hawkins: A flagon...?
Griselda: With the figure of a dragon.
Hawkins: Flagon with a dragon.
Griselda: Right.
Hawkins: But did you put the pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle?
Griselda: No! The pellet with the poison’s in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!
Hawkins: The pellet with the poison’s in the flagon with the dragon; the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.
Griselda: Just remember that.
While eating his garlic and onion Aethelwald bellowed, “Ox gall! Bring me a tankard of ox gall!”
Then one day Aethelwald accidentally splashed ox gall into his eye. “By Thor, me bleedin’ eye!”, roared Aethelwald as he rubbed the inflamed occular. Later as the dead worms dropped from his eye, Aethelwald said, “I’m not dead yet!”. Thus was eye salve discovered and a new business empire begun.
Bfl
Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
Manuka honey is in my medicine cabinet, and I have seen cases where it has beaten even stubborn MRSA where most antibiotics will not work. It’s the combination of the honey (which dehydrates the bacteria cells) and the particular pollen which has its own antibacterial properties.
Hawkins: I've got it! I've got it! The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right?Griselda: Right. But there's been a change: they broke the chalice from the palace!
Hawkins: They *broke* the chalice from the palace?
Griselda: And replaced it with a flagon.
Hawkins: A flagon...?
Griselda: With the figure of a dragon.
Hawkins: Flagon with a dragon.
Griselda: Right.
Hawkins: But did you put the pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle?
Griselda: No! The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!
Hawkins: The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon; the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.
Griselda: Just remember that.
” if it ends Staff Infections, it’s great in my book.”
Will it get George Staphylococcus off my tv set?
Yeah, How could you take a medicine that tastes bad? I know people that think that way. It might save their lives but no, it doesn’t taste good.
Yawning over the potion, that must be the secret. (yawns)
You fail to understand that the point is not to cure people, but for drug companies to be able to invent new products to make money with. As to older remedies, I have successfully used garlic, honey, soft soap, coloidal silver; and arbor vitae. My all time favorite is Zepherin Chloride, also call Benzalkonium chloride. Forty-five years ago when my newborn had thrush, the doctor had me swab his mouth daily with an antibiotic solution. He hated it so much I asked if there was something else. He recommended the Zepherin Chloride 750:1 dilution. That is 750 parts water to 1 part ZC. He said dilute some with an equal amount of water, thus making it 1500:1, and swab his mouth with it 3 times a day. The thrush cleared up very quickly and it was a lot less unpleasant for him. I kept the 16 oz. bottle for years and used on all sorts of minor cuts, sore throats, etc. It was a bit hard to find this dilution on the internet, but here is one. Their charge for 16 oz. is half what I paid 45 years ago. No wonder drug companies don’t want us to know about this and doctors don’t learn to tell us. My bottle included a very detailed sheet telling many uses, including such things as using it to wash out an infected bladder at a greater dilution. Be very careful that you have the right dilution. It comes much stronger for uses like washing down the skin before surgery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzalkonium_chloride
I note that a campaign against it seems to have started about 30 years ago. What, drug companies not making enough money on the antibiotics they had to invent every few years? PS: The green mold that grows on old citrus fruit is penicillin and I have used it effectively on infected cuts.
“You fail to understand that the point is not to cure people, but for drug companies to be able to invent new products to make money with.”
Stupid me. You are dead right. I knew that, just had a senior moment...
Very cool.
Note: this topic is from .
Any updates? Its only been 4 1/2 years! lol
The internet never forgets !!
She's retired now, so, nope, no staff vaccination for you !!
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