MRSA can be killed with tea tree oil, but a nurse who used it (successfully) to clean her previously MRSA-infected ward was reprimanded for using a non-standard procedure, even though it clearly worked
I name and shame you as a Daily Mail reader ("How tea tree oil can wipe out the hospital superbug". Daily Mail, 11 May 2004). It's not really fair to say no one will investigate the promising alternatives - this issue was investigated by the Department of Microbiology and Communicable Disease, (Royal Hampshire County Hospital), and tea tree oil based products were found 41% effective against MRSA, as against 49% effectiveness for standard procedures, and further trials are ongoing.
I didn't know it was in the Daily Mail. I've never actually read that paper (I don't generally read any newspapers) but it was in the British Medical Journal some time ago. It pointed out that they only investigated "tea tree oil based products" and not pure tea tree oil, which was what was used. There is a huge difference between the two and between different brands of the oil.
Perhaps I should have said "no one will investigate the promising alternatives properly" rather than implying "at all". So far I have yet to see a clinical trial of herbal medicine testing it in a suitable way. For example, the tests of the effectiveness of St John's Wort against major depression didn't take in to account that St John's Wort is prescribed for mild depression, not major. Too many of the trials are funded or undertaken by pharmaceuticals who have (obviously) a conflict of interest.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2005-09-30 09:20 am (UTC)I name and shame you as a Daily Mail reader ("How tea tree oil can wipe out the hospital superbug". Daily Mail, 11 May 2004). It's not really fair to say no one will investigate the promising alternatives - this issue was investigated by the Department of Microbiology and Communicable Disease, (Royal Hampshire County Hospital), and tea tree oil based products were found 41% effective against MRSA, as against 49% effectiveness for standard procedures, and further trials are ongoing.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-30 02:18 pm (UTC)Perhaps I should have said "no one will investigate the promising alternatives properly" rather than implying "at all". So far I have yet to see a clinical trial of herbal medicine testing it in a suitable way. For example, the tests of the effectiveness of St John's Wort against major depression didn't take in to account that St John's Wort is prescribed for mild depression, not major. Too many of the trials are funded or undertaken by pharmaceuticals who have (obviously) a conflict of interest.