Forget Beowulf, Old English Text Has Cure for MRSA

Could a thousand-year-old text written in Old English contain a recipe for killing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)? Microbiologists from the University of Nottingham teamed up with an expert in Old English to decipher the medieval text known as Bald’s Leechbook. Within its pages lay details of how to treat an eyelash infection that is commonly caused by S. aureus, through the use of wine, garlic, and cow bile. After the scientists used the tincture on mice infected with MRSA, they were surprised to see that it killed up to 90% of the bacteria, which is dramatically better than most antibiotics and significantly better that vancomycin, the current standard of care for MRSA infections. The findings were presented recently at the Society for General Microbiology’s annual conference.

Learn more by reading this article from The Independent.