Volcanic clay found to kill 99 per cent of MRSA superbugs

Volcanic clay found to kill 99 per cent of MRSA superbugs:

[Researchers] said that the clay was found to wipe out bug colonies in a day during laboratory experiments. They also revealed that control samples of MRSA, which were not treated with agricur, grew 45-fold over the same period.

The World health Organisation welcomed [the work of French doctor Line Brunet de Course] when she approached it in 2002 with 50 case studies. However, it denied her funding because of a lack of scientific evidence.

"It is possible that it is not one single element that is toxic to the bacteria."

The researchers also backed the possibility that the clay worked through a physical rather than a biochemical process, meaning that bacteria could never develop resistance. "It's fascinating. Here we are bridging geology, microbiology, cell biology. A year ago, I'd look at the clay and say, 'Well, that's dirt,'" Dr Haydel, a microbiologist, said.