31 march 2015
researchers from the university of nottingham have shown that a 1,000 year old anglo-saxon remedy for eye infections, which originates from a manuscript in the british library, has been found to kill the modern-day superbug mrsa. this work is being presented this week at the society for general microbiology annual conference.
microbiologist dr freya harrison, working with dr steve diggle and dr aled roberts, collaborated with dr christina lee, an anglo-saxon expert from the school of english, to recreate a 10th century potion for eye infections from bald’s leechbook. the book is widely thought of as one of the earliest known medical textbooks and contains anglo-saxon medical advice and recipes for medicines, salves and treatments.