article_snippet: The researchers then tested The researchers recipe on cultures of MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a type of staph bacterium that does not respond to commonly used antibiotic treatments.
article_snippet: Diggle said the team also asked collaborators in the U.S. to test the recipe using an "in vivo" wound model -- meaning it's in a live organism -- "and basically the big surprise was that it seems to be more effective than conventional antibiotic treatment.
article_snippet: But three more batches, made from scratch each time, have yielded the same results, Harrison said, and the salve appears to retain the salve potency for a long time after being stored in bottles in the refrigerator.
article_snippet: the team says the team now has good, replicated data showing that the medicine kills up to 90% of MRSA bacteria in "in vivo" wound biopsies from mice.
article_snippet: Harrison says the researchers are still not completely sure how the team works, but the researchers have a few ideas -- namely, that there might be several active components in the mixture that work to attack the bacterial cells on different fronts, making it very hard for the researchers to resist; or that by combining the ingredients and leaving the researchers to steep in alcohol, a new, more potent bacteria-fighting molecule is created in the process.
article_snippet: I still can't quite believe how well this 1,000-year-old antibiotic actually seems to be working," Harrison said.
article_snippet: Harrison added: "Obviously you can never say with utter certainty that because it works in the lab it's going to work as an antibiotic, but the potential of this to take on to the next stage and say, 'yeah, really does it work as an antibiotic' is just beyond my wildest dreams, to be honest.