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From a medieval text, a weapon against a modern superbug emerges
The University of Nottingham in Britain, researchers have rediscovered an ancient medicinal elixir that appears to fight a very modern scourge: a deadly drug-resistant bacterial infection rampant in hospitals.
The discovery melds medieval potion-making with modern pharmacology. In its crosshairs: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA.
The discovery melds medieval potion-making with modern pharmacology. In its crosshairs: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA.
Until recently, the recipe for that medieval remedy lay unnoticed in the brittle pages of a 1,000-year-old text - titled "Bald's Leechbook" - shelved in the library of the University of Nottingham's Institute for Medieval Research.
Leafing through that folio, Viking studies professor Christina Lee wondered what its ancient recipes revealed about the state of medieval medical knowledge, and whether and how, a millennium before the germ theory of disease was understood, healers and herbalists had guessed right in choosing their treatments.
Leafing through that folio, Viking studies professor Christina Lee wondered what its ancient recipes revealed about the state of medieval medical knowledge, and whether and how, a millennium before the germ theory of disease was understood, healers and herbalists had guessed right in choosing their treatments.
In lab conditions that set off riotous growth of the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, the 1,000-year-old recipe had a powerful killing effect: roughly 1 in 1,000 bacterial cells growing in plugs of collagen survived when doused with the ancient salve.
Later, in infected wounds induced in mice, the remedy killed 90% of MRSA bacteria.
Later, in infected wounds induced in mice, the remedy killed 90% of MRSA bacteria.
The collaboration between Old English remedies and microbiology has given rise to a program called AncientBiotics at Nottingham, where researchers will seek funding to extend research combining the ancient arts and modern sciences.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-medieval-remedy-superbug-20150331-story.html
See a video about the Nottingham project here.
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I would love the know how, back then, they came to put those specific ingredients together to make something so effective. It will be exciting to see how this can be explored for modern day use. 
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