Thousand Year Old Anglo-Saxon Recipe Kills MRSA SuperBug Cultures

Angela

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Interesting article:

"Anglo-Saxon remedy for eye infections has been found to kill the modern-day superbug MRSA and disrupt naturally antibiotic-resistant biofilms in tests conducted by researchers from The University of Nottingham and Texas Tech University

http://www.archaeology.org/news/3127-150330-anglo-saxon-recipe

It involved "ingredients such as onion, garlic, and part of a cow’s stomach brewed in a copper vessel. The recipe is from Bald’s Leechbook, a volume in the British Library that is thought to be one of the earliest-known books of medical advice and medicines."

Apparently they tested it because they already knew that copper, bile salts and garlic have some antibacterial properties.

How on earth did ancient people stumble onto this one?

Well, this goes along with willow bark to lessen fevers, and moldy bread being put on sores or wounds in some places, and salt water for cleansing, among other things.

It's best to remember that in some places they were also fond of putting cow dung on wounds too, weren't they and they didn't have any problem with having cesspits feed into the water supply? :petrified: It seems as if it was a hit or miss business.

Do you think anybody should test the following?:grin:

“Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.”



(Totally off topic, but for anyone in love with language, with words and sounds and rhyme and meter, reading Shakespeare is so...so...delicious. :))


Ed. One of my cousins told me that when she was in medical school they put cold germs, stomach viruses etc. in a petri dish and then just put some cloves of fresh garlic in there. Next day all the germs and viruses were dead. Old peasants in my neck of the woods used to eat it whole or with some bread. Onions too. The problem was that you couldn't stand downwind of them.:LOL: Alas, even if I didn't mind that I would clear out the elevator, it's impossible for me to eat it raw, and even cooked I have to use it judiciously in food as it gives me terrible heartburn and indigestion. I can't even tolerate the pills. So, I'm stuck.
 
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My friends father has a certain bladder cancer..........to cure it ( sometimes it only halts the spread ), they inject live tuberculosis into the bladder every 3 months. This has been going on for over 2 years. They say he will be cured by the end of the year.
That is today's weird science.
 
One of those I remember, and I`m certain it was from The Leech Book of Bald, was for treating someone who may have inadvertently eaten Wolfsbane...whereby the poor individual was advised to "stand on his head while someone made many cuts in his shanks, thereby letting the poison run out". I don`t think it said how successful the treatment was...:wary2:
 
A medical doctor once told me that before World War II, doctors used a variety of antibiotics that were very affective - part of the time. The problem is that an herbal remedy, for example, cannot provide a standard fixed dosage because the chemical compounds in plants can vary a great deal in potency from one garlic clove to another (or whatever plant is being used). But they really needed a cheap, effective antibiotic with a fixed potency for use on the wounded. And when penicillin was discovered by accident, it was found that producing it in a lab allowed the makers to accurately control dosage strength, so the use of other antibiotics was abandoned. The doctor predicted that once enough germs became penicillin resistant, medical researchers would have to take another look at some of the old antibiotics that are no longer used.
 
One of those I remember, and I`m certain it was from The Leech Book of Bald, was for treating someone who may have inadvertently eaten Wolfsbane...whereby the poor individual was advised to "stand on his head while someone made many cuts in his shanks, thereby letting the poison run out". I don`t think it said how successful the treatment was...:wary2:


Maybe along the same lines as cutting the area around a snake bite and trying to suck out the venom? Or have I watched too many films?
 
Maybe along the same lines as cutting the area around a snake bite and trying to suck out the venom? Or have I watched too many films?
It always works in the movies, Angela. I think however, if I`m right, the advice is don`t do this...not sure. Well lets hope no-one gets bitten by a snake and needs either of our help, by the time we decided whether to cut or not, poor victim would have had it....:LOL:
 
It always works in the movies, Angela. I think however, if I`m right, the advice is don`t do this...not sure. Well lets hope no-one gets bitten by a snake and needs either of our help, by the time we decided whether to cut or not, poor victim would have had it....:LOL:

I don't know if you've watched any Woody Allen movies. (A little of him goes a long way for me.) In "Bananas", they're being taught that if someone is bitten in the leg they have to suck out the poison, and Woody says in his nerdy Woody way...never...only if we're engaged. I think I would pass as well.

Only for mature viewers mind... Men!:grin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXDjfJ5imD4

On the other hand, I'm a dab hand with a tourniquet...which might be more useful. :)
 
Apparently they tested it because they already knew that copper, bile salts and garlic have some antibacterial properties.

How on earth did ancient people stumble onto this one?
Perhaps because they used copper pots and cooked whatever they could eat. Then some keen observer noticed good properties.

Well, this goes along with willow bark to lessen fevers, and moldy bread being put on sores or wounds in some places, and salt water for cleansing, among other things.
Bread mixed with spiderweb crests penicillin, some people claim.

Ed. One of my cousins told me that when she was in medical school they put cold germs, stomach viruses etc. in a petri dish and then just put some cloves of fresh garlic in there. Next day all the germs and viruses were dead. Old peasants in my neck of the woods used to eat it whole or with some bread. Onions too. The problem was that you couldn't stand downwind of them.:LOL: Alas, even if I didn't mind that I would clear out the elevator, it's impossible for me to eat it raw, and even cooked I have to use it judiciously in food as it gives me terrible heartburn and indigestion. I can't even tolerate the pills. So, I'm stuck.
Let's not forget the fly maggots excellent for cleaning difficult wounds and excreting antibiotics to stop gangrene.
 
One of those I remember, and I`m certain it was from The Leech Book of Bald, was for treating someone who may have inadvertently eaten Wolfsbane...whereby the poor individual was advised to "stand on his head while someone made many cuts in his shanks, thereby letting the poison run out". I don`t think it said how successful the treatment was...:wary2:
Indeed, most of ancient remedies were more of a trickery than a real cure. There was always ol' good mercury to drink if anything else failed.
 


Ed. One of my cousins told me that when she was in medical school they put cold germs, stomach viruses etc. in a petri dish and then just put some cloves of fresh garlic in there.
The trick is to change the environment drastically to kill bacteria. In big dosage ordinary sugar and salt kills bacteria. That's why we have jams and pickles.
 
A medical doctor once told me that before World War II, doctors used a variety of antibiotics that were very affective - part of the time. The problem is that an herbal remedy, for example, cannot provide a standard fixed dosage because the chemical compounds in plants can vary a great deal in potency from one garlic clove to another (or whatever plant is being used). But they really needed a cheap, effective antibiotic with a fixed potency for use on the wounded. And when penicillin was discovered by accident, it was found that producing it in a lab allowed the makers to accurately control dosage strength, so the use of other antibiotics was abandoned. The doctor predicted that once enough germs became penicillin resistant, medical researchers would have to take another look at some of the old antibiotics that are no longer used.
I read about this, Teixobactin, they seem to be hoping for good things regarding it...at some point.

http://directorsblog.nih.gov/2015/01/13/digging-up-new-antibiotics/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teixobactin
 
Indeed, most of ancient remedies were more of a trickery than a real cure. There was always ol' good mercury to drink if anything else failed.
Yes they gave mercury for a lot of conditions, from toothache to TB and even childbirth. :shocked:
 
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Maybe I'm misremembering, but didn't mercury work for some things, like syphilis?
 
Maybe I'm misremembering, but didn't mercury work for some things, like syphilis?

Probably one would have been cured before they got cancer :/

Add. Oh I just checked it causes lots of other things but not cancer. hmm
 
Maybe I'm misremembering, but didn't mercury work for some things, like syphilis?
I think the thing with mercury was it was seen as a magical cure all, for some time. It was indeed used, along with other things such as arsenic, to treat syphilis, both as an ointment and also to drink. I`m not sure how successful this was but I do know it caused nerve damage [ neuropathy] kidney failure, loss of teeth and perhaps more including of course, death. I think it was decided the toxic effects of mercury were greater than the benefits it might have.
Mercury based pills were taken as treatment for depression among other things. Abraham Lincoln took these for a long time. If I recall, it was said he may have actually been suffering from effects of mercury poisoning at the time of his death. [?]
Penicillin was used for treating syphilis, around 1943-44 [ not sure re. exact date] and this was much more successful.
 
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