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Tea Tree Oil Body Wash May Fight Deadly MRSA Bug

Posted on: Monday, 5 January 2009, 08:50 CST

An innovative study is looking to see whether or not a tea tree oil body scrub can avert the defiant super virus MRSA in gravely ill hospitalized adults.

The tea tree oils "may be a simple intervention to prevent MRSA," said Dr. Bronagh Blackwood from Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland.

MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a mounting crisis. MRSA is not treatable with the majority of regular antibiotics and can cause lethal problems such as pneumonia, bloodstream infections and surgical wound infections.

Hospitals and nursing homes are the main targets for the virus's breeding ground, due to victims suffering from weak immune systems. Dangerously sick patients remain high risk, mainly due to the amount of invasive procedures that they must go through in the intensive care unit.

In earlier investigations, bathing with tea tree oil has seemed to be efficient in eliminating MRSA on the skin.

Consequently, Blackwood and researchers are assessing the results of regular use of a body wash with 5 percent tea tree oil on new MRSA infections in ICU patients.

"We started this trial in November 2007," Blackwood stated. "We aim to complete it in November 2010."

If tea tree oil body wash is indeed victorious in combating MRSA, universal implementation of such an easy avoidance device may progress patient results and trim down healthcare costs, the researchers add.

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On the Net:

• Queen's University Belfast

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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