Researchers analyzed the combined effects of green tea and antibiotics on 28 different infectious microorganisms, according to a Society for General Microbiology press release. The green tea increased the antibacterial effect of antibiotic medicines in every case said Alexandria University researcher Dr. Mervat Kassem. In addition to improving the efficacy of antibiotics, green tea also seemed to reduce the drug resistance of bacteria.

Some drug-resistant microorganisms even became susceptible to the very antibiotics they evolved to evade. Green tea rendered 20 percent of antibiotic-resistant bacteria susceptible to one of the cephalosporin antibiotics they usually resist.

Dr. Kassem intends to continue researching natural products that may help fight off drug resistant bacterial infections. The next superbug treatment could even be sitting in your pantry or spice rack. His future research will study active compounds in herbs such as thyme and marjoram.

The research on green tea will be presented on Monday, March 31, 2008 at the Society for General Microbiology’s 162nd meeting in Edinburgh in a session entitled Influence of green tea on the antimicrobial activity of some antibiotics against multiresistant clinical isolates.

Doctors observed an “unusual cluster” of acinetobacter infections in the ICU, and instituted a quarantine at 9:30 p.m. on November 1, 2007, Fox News reported. Doctors are restricting visitation, canceling elective surgeries, and have halted all new admissions to the ICU. Hospital staff are not confined to the unit as long as they don protective gear when treated affected patients.

Acinetobacter is similar to the superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, in that it resists treatment by the most common antibiotics. Untreated, acinetobacter can cause pneumonia and skin infections. The six patients at St. Josephs are receiving intravenous antibiotics and doctors believe they are responding well. There is no word on how the infection was introduced to the patients.

The Centers for Disease Control and the Arkansas State Health Department will send representatives to Hot Springs to ensure that the acinetobacter outbreak is properly contained.

Acinetobacter infections are rarely found outside hospital settings, and usually affect only those with already compromised immune systems. The acinetobacter bug is an ongoing concern in the medical community because drug resistance among various strains appears to be increasing. The bacterium can spread easily, and some strains may survive on dry surfaces for weeks.

Although healthy people do not usually become infected with the acinetobacter bacterium, many carry it on their skin. As with MRSA, good hygiene practices and thorough surface disinfection can help limit the spread of the potentially lethal pathogen acinetobacter.

Research on the antimicrobial properties of the French clay called Agricur will be presented at the Geological Society of America’s annual meeting on Monday, October 29, 2007. David Metge and his co-researchers found that “bacterial cultures lost 90-99% of viability within 24 hours of exposure to the French Agricur clays.” The clay killed the microorganisms penicillin-resistant S. aureus (PRSA) and pathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli), in addition to MRSA and M. ulcerans.

The research on Agricur was funded in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. Additional studies are needed to determine how the clay works to destroy bacteria.