Healing power of some Irish soils no piseog
Despite many piseogs, Irish soil doesn’t have supernatural healing powers. According to new research, however, it has remarkable bacterial ones; microbes living in it are able to see off notorious superbugs such as MRSA.
Infectious diseases, the scourge of humanity, could not be treated effectively until 70 years ago, when substances able to kill nasty germs were discovered. These ‘antibiotics’ transformed the practice of medicine, saving countless lives.
However, the good times may be coming to an end; superbugs, against which we have no defence, are on the rampage. And it’s our own fault.
Antibiotics can despatch most of the bacteria in cases of infection. However, a few germs will have the genetic make-up to dodge the magic bullets. Once their ‘normal’ peers have been killed off, these mavericks come into their own; with the field all to themselves, they multiply. It’s a classic example of un-natural selection. Increasing their numbers, they are ready to fight another day.
The profligate use of antibiotics, in human and animal medicine, has allowed superbugs to prosper. According to the World Health Organisation, they are “one of the biggest threats to global health today”. It’s estimated that the bugs could kill up to 1.3m people in Europe over the next 30 years.
‘Ethno-pharmacology’ is the scientific study of folk medicine; researchers seek to identify the ingredients in traditional remedies which appear to render them effective. This line of inquiry also helps scientists in their search for antidotes to super-bugs.
Gerry Quinn, a member of the Swansea research team, used to live in Boho, near Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh. The limestone substrate of the soils there are skeletal remains of ancient corals and molluscs. The parish had a Neolithic settlement 4,000 years ago, a tomb dates to the Bronze Age and druids are said to have gathered there in Iron Age times. Occupation has continued, through the Christian era, down to our own day.
‘Alternative’ remedies are produced by trial and error and handed down through the generations, apparently successful ones becoming part of tradition. Given its ancient lineage, it’s not surprising that folk medicine flourished in Boho. People would visit the area to collect soil from the graveyard; a celebrated faith-healing priest is buried there. Sufferers would wrap soil in cloth and place it under the pillow at night. Held against the jaw, the soil was said to reduce toothache.
Throat ailments were treated by applying it to the neck. With such faith in its efficacy, Boho soil was a candidate for ethno-pharmacological examination.
When the Swansea researchers analysed soil samples, they discovered a strain of bacteria previously unknown to science. It belongs to the Streptomyces genus, from which over two thirds of the antibiotics prescribed today are derived. The name, from Greek, translates as ‘twisted mushroom’. When the Boho bacteria were let loose on super-bugs, they inhibited growth in four of the six most lethal ones, including the notorious MRSA.
The soil samples were found to contain other organisms which may be able to resist pathogens. Although sleeping with Boho soil under you pillow is unlikely to solve your health problems, it seems that the folk healers of Fermanagh were on to something.
The team’s next task is to identify the components of the new bacterial strain responsible for killing pathogens.
Luciana Terra et al. A novel Alkaliphilic Streptomyces inhibits Eskape pathogens. Frontiers in Microbiology. 2018.
