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Garlic's active ingredient, allicin, could
be useful in the battle against infection that does not respond
to antibiotic drugs, a serious and growing problem.
Dr. Ronald Cutler of the University of
East London, UK, reported on his research using a cream containing
allicin, garlic's active compound, to fight methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). MRSAs infect hospital patients,
and are also a danger for healthcare workers and people with
weakened immune systems.
About half of people carry MRSAs in their
noses. A topical drug, mupirocin, was released in 1985 to
help wipe out nasal MRSA carriage -- which is where most infections
originate -- but the bug has already begun to develop resistance
to it.
Dr. Cutler developed creams that were
able to carry allicin in a stable, effective form and mask
its odor. They tested the creams against 30 different samples
of MRSA taken from patients and grown in the laboratory. An
allicin concentration of 32 parts per million (ppm) inhibited
the growth of all of the bacteria samples, and all were killed
by allicin at 256 PPM
There's probably little danger that bugs
will develop resistance to allicin. While allicin is not effective
against certain species of bacteria, bugs that are susceptible
to allicin have never been
seen to develop resistance to it.
Dr. Jaya Prakash of the National University
of Health Sciences in Lombard, Illinois, reported on her research
on allicin's effects on another drug-resistant bug, vancomycin-resistant
enterococci (VRE). She and her colleagues conducted laboratory
tests of allicin's effect on VRE samples taken from patients
with the infection.
Allicin did not kill the VRE, but it
did hold their growth in check. This suggests that an allicin
preparation could be given to patients when they enter the
hospital to prevent VRE from taking hold in their digestive
tracts. Garlic would be especially effective against bacteria
living in the colon, because up to 20% of the garlic is not
absorbed in the body but excreted in the feces.
She noted that patients may enter the
hospital with VREs in their digestive tracts, or they may
contract the infection in the hospital. Once the bug takes
hold, she explained, it can spread to the bladder and to catheters,
resulting in a serious and very difficult-to-treat infection.
Both Prakash and Cutler noted that the
garlic preparations are very safe which is why it may be the
ideal candidate.
42nd
Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Chicago, IL December 19, 2001
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