Antimicrobial resistance is of great concern to those involved in equine health; multidrug resistance is posing a massive challenge to managing microbial infections. Infections that cause biofilms are even harder to resolve; it's estimated that biofilms require 100 to 1,000 times higher antibiotic concentrations that non-biofilm-producing bacterial infections.
Drs. Jessica Furner-Pardoe, Blessing Anonye, Ricky Cain, John Moat, Catherine Ortori, Christina Lee, David Barrett, Christophe Corre and Freya Harrison investigated the efficacy of a 1,000-year-old herbal remedy found in a 10th century Old English medical compendium. The remedy, called Bald's eye salve, consists of onion, garlic, dry white wine and bovine bile salts.
The team found that this topical remedy was useful against specific soft tissue wound pathogens. To create the salve, the scientists chopped and crushed the onions and garlic, and brewed them with wine and bile salts. They then stored the liquid in sterilized glass bottles at around 39 degrees Fahrenheit in the dark for nine days. The ingredients were then strained and centrifuged to obtain a liquid that was filtered and stored in the same sterilized glass bottles.
When tested against wounds that contained MRSA, Bald's eye salve obtained a 90 percent bacterial kill and was comparable to vancomycin. The medication didn't cause damage to either human cells in the laboratory or to mice.
The combination of all the ingredients is what makes it effective against biofilms. If any ingredient is left out, the preparation is not effective.
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