-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Fw: EOs (essential
Oils) kill superbugs Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:19:40 -0400 From: PRTB
<pearlis@triad.rr.com> To:
PRT <pearlis@triad.rr.com>
*Sent:*
Thursday, October 25, 2007 10:21 PM *Subject:* EOs kill
superbugs
AROMATHERAPY OILS KILL SUPERBUGS
-- Tuesday, 21
December, 2004, BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)
Essential oils
could kill the deadly MRSA hospital 'superbug', scientists have
claimed.
University of Manchester researchers found three of the oils,
usually used in aromatherapy, destroyed MRSA and E.coli bacteria in two
minutes.
They suggest the oils could be blended into soaps and shampoos
which could be used in hospitals to stop the spread of the superbug.
Hospital-acquired infections, such as MRSA, kill an estimated 5,000 a year in
the UK.
The Manchester study was triggered when complementary medicine
specialists at Christie Cancer Hospital asked university researchers to test
essential oils.
Dr Peter Warn, who carried out the research, said:
"When I tested the oils in the lab, absolutely nothing grew. Rather than
stimulating bacteria and fungi, the oils killed them off."
The
essential oils tested were Patchouli, tea tree, geranium, lavender essential
oils and Citricidal trade mark (grapefruit seed extract).
The team tested
40 essential oils against 10 of the most infectious agents found in
hospitals, including MRSA (methicillin-resistant
staphylococcus aureus).
Two of the oils were found to kill MRSA and
E.coli almost instantly, while a third was found to act over a longer period
of time.
Dr Warn says the essential oils could be used to create much
more pleasant inhalation therapies - which he said were likely to have a much
higher success rate than the current treatment, which is only effective in
around 50% of cases."
Dr Warn said: "We believe that our discovery
could revolutionise the fight to combat MRSA and other superbugs."
But
he said the team now needed around £30,000 in order to continue
its research.
Jacqui Stringer, clinical leader of complementary
therapies at Christie Hospital in Manchester, instigated the oils
research. # # # She said: "Our research shows a very practical application
which could be of enormous benefit to the NHS and its patients.
"The
reason essential oils are so effective is because they are made up of
a complex mixture of chemical compounds which the MRSA and other
superbug bacteria finds difficult to resist."
The Department of Health
evaluates products which are claimed to prevent or treat HAIs before it
permits them to be used across the NHS. end