The Superbug-Fighting Weed

From my favorite news source on March 3rd...

An invasive shrub known as the Brazilian peppertree could be a new weapon in the fight against antibiotic-resistant superbugs, reports WashingtonPost.com. A relative of poison ivy indigenous to South America, the Brazilian peppertree is the scourge of homeowners across the southern U.S., Florida in particular. But traditional healers in the Amazon have been using its bright red berries to treat skin infections for centuries, and researchers from the University of Iowa and Emory University believe the plant may contain a substance that effectively neutralizes methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The team infected mice with the bacteria and treated some of them with Brazilian peppertree extract. While the untreated mice developed skin lesions, those who were given the plant compound did not. “It essentially disarms the MRSA bacteria, preventing it from excreting the toxins it uses as weapons to damage tissues,” explains Cassandra Quave, an ethnobotanist at Emory. “The body’s normal immune system then stands a better chance of healing a wound.” The findings could lead to new ways of controlling antibiotic resistance and treating MRSA infections, which claimed 11,000 lives in the U.S. in 2011.

And here we are, wiping out all sorts of animals and plants... Makes you wonder when killing off a species what benefits it might have brought to the human race. Certainly this has science behind it, rather than erectile dysfunction and the Rhino horn from the French zoo. One of very few left in the world.... (Though I did once hear that they might try and grow a white rhino embryo in the black rhino.)

We know this has been a subject of interest for me... wonder what is happening with all these discoveries. I don't ever want to find out first hand, though. But, recently we discussed superbugs which have no cure. How does this effect that situation? (Are these scientists talking to one another? They better be!) And we spoke of the very amusing story here and here.

The above blurb was taken from here.