French Clay May Be The Answer to MRSA

[Guest guest]

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Here's some good news about the use of clay to kill superbugs. This comes from

the UK's The Independent, dated 28 Oct 07. Click the link to read the full

article.

 

 

French Muck: The New Penicillin for MRSA? (28 October 2007)

http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article3104663.ece

 

Scientists have discovered a new and highly effective weapon against deadly

superbugs like the MRSA sweeping through Britain's dirty hospital wards – green

French muck. The dramatic antibiotic success of agricur, a clay made from

ancient volcanic ash found near the Massif Central, marks it out as a potential

rival to penicillin, the wonder drug of the 20th century. In experiments, the

clay killed up to 99 per cent of superbug colonies within 24 hours. Control

samples of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) grew 45-fold in

the same period. The clay has a similar effect on other deadly bacteria tested,

including salmonella, E. coli, and a flesh-eating disease called buruli, a

relative of leprosy which disfigures children across central and western Africa.

It has been classed as " an emerging public health threat " by the World Health

Organization (WHO).