MRSA Formula
Credit: © The British Library Board (Royal 12 D xvii))

Could a 1,000-year-old concoction be the answer to stopping superbugs?

Christina Lee, an Anglo-Saxon expert at the University of Nottingham, found the recipe for a remedy for eye infections in a 10th Century medical volume called Bald’s Leechbook, one of the earliest known medical textbooks. The instructions were clear — clear enough to follow today — so she brought it to a microbiology lab at the university to see if it really works against bacteria.

In its original Old English, the recipe — which may date back even further, to the 9th Century — called for two species of Allium (garlic and onion or leek), wine and bile from a cow’s stomach. The topical potion was brewed in a brass vessel, strained and left to sit for nine days.

The ingredients on their own are known to have antibacterial properties, so it seemed like a good bet.

“We thought that Bald’s […]

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