posted
Scientists may be able to develop an antibiotic from clay that bacteria can't become resistant to -- wouldn't that be nice! -----------------------------------------------
French Clay Can Kill MRSA And 'Flesh-Eating' Bacteria
ScienceDaily (Oct. 26, 2007) -- French clay that kills several kinds of disease-causing bacteria is at the forefront of new research into age-old, nearly forgotten, but surprisingly potent cures. Among the malevolent bacteria that a French clay has been shown to fight is a "flesh-eating" bug (M. ulcerans) on the rise in Africa and the germ called MRSA, which was blamed for the recent deaths of two children in Virginia and Mississippi.
"There are very compelling reports of clay treating infections, but that's anecdotal evidence, not science," said Lynda Williams, an associate research professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, Tempe.
Williams is coordinating three teams of U.S. researchers (at ASU, USGS, and SUNY-Buffalo) studying healing clays under a two-year, $440,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health-National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Her ASU colleague Shelley Haydel is lending her expertise in clinical medicine to perform the microbiological research.
For thousands of years, people have used clay to heal wounds, soothe indigestion, and kill intestinal worms. Though the practice has declined in modern times, the recent rise of drug-resistant germs has scientists looking more closely at these ancient remedies to learn exactly what they can do and how they do it.
"We're beginning to generate the first scientific evidence of why some minerals might kill bacterial organisms and others might not," said Williams.
In laboratory tests at ASU's Biodesign Institute, co-PI Haydel, an assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences, showed that one clay killed bacteria responsible for many human illnesses, including: Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), penicillin-resistant S. aureus (PRSA), and pathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli).
It also killed Mycobacterium ulcerans, a germ related to leprosy and tuberculosis that causes the flesh-eating disease Buruli ulcer. This effect was first described in 2002, by Line Brunet de Courssou, a French humanitarian working in the Ivory Coast, Africa, who cured Buruli ulcers with daily applications of French clay she knew from childhood. Currently, advanced cases of Buruli ulcer can only be cured by surgical excision or amputation.
The new medicinal clay research will be presented on Monday, 29 October 2007, at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Denver.
In the same session there will be a related presentation describing the work 100 years ago of Julius Stumpf, a German physician and scientist who used white clay from Germany to treat a deadly form of Asian cholera; diphtheria; gangrene; ulcers of the tibia (a bone between the knee and foot); and the skin disease eczema.
Posts: 590 | From Canada | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged |
GiGi
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 259
posted
Thank you. I am sending this on to a couple of doctors just in case they don't know about it.
Take care.
Posts: 9834 | From Washington State | Registered: Oct 2000
| IP: Logged |
AliG
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9734
-------------------- Note: I'm NOT a medical professional. The information I share is from my own personal research and experience. Please do not construe anything I share as medical advice, which should only be obtained from a licensed medical practitioner. Posts: 4881 | From Middlesex County, NJ | Registered: Jul 2006
| IP: Logged |
Areneli
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6740
posted
The only problem is that you cannot inject it into your blood. It will work only in skin applications and on guts when swallowed.
Posts: 1538 | From Planet Earth | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged |
Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
-
" For thousands of years, people have used clay to heal wounds, soothe indigestion, and kill intestinal worm . . ."
that's a good start if the gut can lighten it's load.
and, if it cannot be injected into the blood stream, might a bath in the stuff let some of it's properties be absorbed by the skin ?
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic