Geologists Suggest Dirt as Treatment for MRSA and Other Superbugs
Posted on October 25, 2007
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Wash your hands and practice good hygiene. Avoid getting wounds dirty. That’s the usual medical advice on how to avoid staph infections. But new research suggests that treating wounds with a particular type of French clay creates a toxic environment for superbugs like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and the flesh-eating bacteria Mycobacterium ulcerans.
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.
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