https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-general/medieval-medicine-1000-year-old-onion-garlic-kills-modern-bacterial-superbugs-020281
The written instructions for an onion and garlic eye salve from the Anglo-Saxon manuscript Bald’s Leechbook. The remedy was found to kill MRSA bacteria.
Credit: The British Library Board
To the surprise and excitement of researchers, a ninth century Anglo-Saxon treatment for eye infections has been used successfully to kill tenacious bacteria cultures. The ancient remedy consisting of onion, garlic, cow bile and wine might be an effective weapon against modern antibiotic-resistant superbugs such as MRSA.
Scientists from the University of Nottingham ’s Center for Biomolecular Sciences, UK, and Anglo-Saxon expert Dr. Christina Lee worked together to create the 1,000-year-old remedy found in Bald’s Leechbook, (also known as Medicinale Anglicum ) a medical text written in Old English believed to be one of the earliest-known books of medical advice.
Middle-English leech-book, containing medical receipts, including some charms; a Latin-English Glossary of herbs; short tracts on urines, the cure of wounds, uses of herbs, etc. Wikimedia Commons
The medieval recipe for salve used to treat eye infections lists as ingredients: garlic, onion (or leek), wine, and cow bile, reports BBC News . The scientists were astonished to find that the ingredients alone had little effect, but when combined they were effective at killing 90 percent of the methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria cultures.
MRSA is a serious public health concern; it is a difficult infection to treat, as it has naturally developed resistance to modern antibiotics, and has thus been given the classification of “superbug”.
University microbiologist, Dr Freya Harrison says of the discovery in a University press release , “We thought that Bald’s eye salve might show a small amount of antibiotic activity, because each of the ingredients has been shown by other researchers to have some effect on bacteria in the lab—copper and bile salts can kill bacteria, and the garlic family of plants make chemicals that interfere with the bacteria’s ability to damage infected tissues. But we were absolutely blown away by just how effective the combination of ingredients was.” The ancient remedy reportedly outperformed modern conventional antibiotics against the bacteria.
Further, the success of the remedy has demonstrated to the researchers that Anglo-Saxon physicians may have used observation and experimentation, processes of the modern scientific method, in order to come to their remedy.
Article continues at: https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-general/medieval-medicine-1000-year-old-onion-garlic-kills-modern-bacterial-superbugs-020281
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