Isle plants hope in superbug fight

AN ancient manuscript and a Scottish island could hold the secret to defeating superbugs.

Many strains of lethal bacteria are becoming immune to modern antibiotics, which experts warn could be catastrophic for human health.

But researchers on the Isle of Arran gathered wild plants that feature in the Meddygon Myddfai, a 14th century compendium written by Welsh herbalists.

They found that around 80 per cent lived up to the 700-year-old claims over their ability to fight off microbes. Two extracts in particular – sabinene, from juniper berries, and alliin, from garlic – were effective against E.coli and Staphylococcus aureus, which are both becoming resistant to modern drugs.

Last night, a leading expert said the discovery may prove to be a breakthrough.

Hugh Pennington – emeritus professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University – said: ‘This approach makes sense. After all, penicillin was isolated from a naturally growing thing.’

The study – a collaboration between the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine on Arran and North Carolina University – looked at 83 remedies passed down through generations of herbalists from the Carmarthenshire village of Myddfai.

The plants were collected on Arran as its mild climate and wild areas have allowed a variety of flora to flourish.

The findings – published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology – say: ‘Our study demonstrated that most of the Myddfai medicinal plants indicated for treating diseases recognisable as microbial infections showed an antibacterial effect.

‘These results encourage further investigations to extract and identify the active chemical compounds responsible for the antibacterial effects.’