Garlic has been a tried and trusted natural remedy for thousands of years.
And now researchers have found another use for the pungent bulbs – treating MRSA.
Patients who have suffered for years with weeping, infected wounds have been cleared after a course of garlic pills and creams, recent trials at the University of East London have shown.
So far more than 250 people have been successfully treated.
The study’s details will be published later this year in the journal Advances in Therapy.
Many of the volunteers had wounds that hadn't healed in several years – despite prolonged treatment with antibiotics.
Swabs confirmed they all carried the drug-resistant hospital superbug MRSA – but most were cured within eight to 12 weeks of treatment. Larger wounds took 18 weeks to heal.
“It does take a little longer, but it’s an effective treatment, especially for those people with chronic MRSA lesions,” said Dr. Ron Cutler, a microbiologist who headed the study.
“We have had patients on the trial who were due to have surgery to remove infected tissue, but after using the garlic preparation their wounds healed.”
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