Article: Essential Oils Found to Fight Bacteria

[Guest guest]

A friend sent me this today and I figured some folks here might enjoy

reading it

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

 

A Little Ol'Factory - Since 1999

Organic 100% Extra Virgin Olive Liquid Soap

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Essential Oils Found to Fight Bacteria****

****

 

DALLAS (Reuters Health) - A pair of orthopaedic surgeons report that two

essential oils--eucalyptus and tea-tree oil--are surprisingly effective

at treating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections.

 

Despite the positive findings, though, others say it is too soon to

consider such oils an alternative to antibiotics.

 

The researchers presented their findings here at the 69th Annual Meeting

of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

 

Dr. Eugene Sherry of the University of Sydney in Australia said that,

applied to the skin of infected wounds an antibacterial wash derived

from Eucalyptus radiata and Melaleuca alternifolia--better known as

eucalyptus and tea-tree oil--can work when modern antibiotics fail.

 

Essential oils like these are mostly used in aromatherapy, Sherry noted.

 

He said that he used the combination " once a day for several months " in

a series of 25 patients with MRSA.

 

" Twenty-two of the infections resolved completely, " Sherry reported. In

19 patients, the infections resolved without the use of antibiotics,

while three patients required antibiotic treatment, he said.

 

Before Sherry applied the solution, he removed dead skin and infected

tissue from the wound, a process called debridement. Sixteen of the

infections involved the bone and three had spread to muscle.

 

In addition, 10 of the patients were diabetic, which " makes healing of

wounds very difficult, " Sherry said in an interview with Reuters Health.

 

Two years ago, Sherry attended a presentation about the antibacterial

properties of essential oils and decided to research the subject. He

said that he discovered a wealth of 50-year-old research concerning

essential oils, but said " all that research was abandoned when modern

science discovered antibiotics. "

 

When Sherry decided to initiate a trial of eucalyptus and tea-tree oil

in MRSA patients, he discovered that Dr. Patrick H. Warnke, an

orthopedic surgeon at the University of Kiel in Germany, was pursuing a

parallel study. So the two combined their work to produce the 25-patient

MRSA study.

 

Warnke said they are now studying an aerosolized version of the compound

in laboratory studies of tuberculosis. When they sprayed the compound on

tuberculosis cultures " we wiped out TB, killed it, in 40 minutes. No

antibiotic does that, " Warnke told Reuters Health.

 

Both doctors said that they have received no funding from the makers of

the essential oils, nor do they have financial interests in companies

producing the substances.

 

Dr. Harris Gellman, professor of medicine at the University of Miami and

a spokesman for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, said the

new study is " interesting and exciting, " but the treatment is nowhere

near ready for prime time.

 

Gellman pointed out that although the results are positive, the authors

have not provided enough information. For example, he said, the

information about the site of the infection, duration before the

essential oils treatment, and comparison to a " control " group are all

missing from the study.

 

The bottom line, Gellman said, is that " we don't know if these patients

would have recovered irrespective of treatment. "

 

But even with those caveats, Gellman said he is pleased that orthopaedic

surgeons are " finally going back " to evaluate traditional therapies for

infection.

 

" Most medicinals come from plants, " he noted, " so the natural

progression is to look to more plants for more treatments. "

 

Original Reference Source: http://www.reutershealth.com/

[Guest guest]

Thanks for posting this Chris, dont ya just love it when the

allopathic *discover* what we have known for years??

Of cause they will isolate and extract and hum and har in the lab, and

eventually product a product that in no time will induce resistant

bugs...but hey! they are *on the road* <hummm>.

Be interesting to know what carrier they used in the *wash* and what

dilution they found effective.

LLx

 

 

On 18/11/2007, Christine Ziegler <chrisziggy wrote:

> A friend sent me this today and I figured some folks here might enjoy

> reading it

>

> *Smile*

> Chris (list mom)

>

> A Little Ol'Factory - Since 1999

> Organic 100% Extra Virgin Olive Liquid Soap

> http://www.alittleolfactory.com

>

> CZ Luxe

> Luxurious natural delights

> http://www.czluxe.com/

>

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

> Essential Oils Found to Fight Bacteria****

> ****

>

> DALLAS (Reuters Health) - A pair of orthopaedic surgeons report that two

> essential oils--eucalyptus and tea-tree oil--are surprisingly effective

> at treating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections.

>

> Despite the positive findings, though, others say it is too soon to

> consider such oils an alternative to antibiotics.

<Snip>

[Guest guest]

>He said that he discovered a wealth of 50-year-old research

>concerning essential oils, but said " all that research was abandoned

>when modern science discovered antibiotics. "

 

That statement - if correctly reported - is a pile of hogwash! I have

thousands of research papers on the anti microbial properties of oils.

Research has been continuous for many years around the world and vast

amounts of good research on both these oils are available. Also

numerous modern clinical trials have been reported, particularly for

tea tree oil.

 

The problem is that many scientists & doctors are too lazy to do

proper literature research and are only interested in making names for

themselves by presenting papers at conferences.

 

This kind of research is most unlikely to be adopted within the

medical profession because unmodified essential oils are unreliable

antibacterials as other researchers discovered years ago. It will

though add to the weight of evidence in favour of products being

'medicated' using essential oils in standardised pharmaceutical

preparations.

 

In view of the ecological benefits from using plant extracts via lower

energy needs and lower CO2 emissions, it would be nice if the drug

companies used more plant extracts. I wont hold my breath though as

they have been well aware for 50 years plus as to the potential

properties of thousands of plant extracts and not used them.

 

Martin Watt

http://www.aromamedical.com

 

, Christine Ziegler

<chrisziggy wrote:

>

> A friend sent me this today and I figured some folks here might enjoy

> reading it

>

> *Smile*

> Chris (list mom)

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

> Essential Oils Found to Fight Bacteria****

> ****

>

> DALLAS (Reuters Health) - A pair of orthopaedic surgeons report that

two

> essential oils--eucalyptus and tea-tree oil--are surprisingly effective

> at treating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

infections.

>

> Despite the positive findings, though, others say it is too soon to

> consider such oils an alternative to antibiotics.

>

> The researchers presented their findings here at the 69th Annual

Meeting

> of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

>

> Dr. Eugene Sherry of the University of Sydney in Australia said that,

> applied to the skin of infected wounds an antibacterial wash derived

> from Eucalyptus radiata and Melaleuca alternifolia--better known as

> eucalyptus and tea-tree oil--can work when modern antibiotics fail.

>

> Essential oils like these are mostly used in aromatherapy, Sherry noted.

>

> Original Reference Source: http://www.reutershealth.com/

>