MRSA Bacteria And Green Tea

MRSA bacteria (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) are "superbugs" that have become resistant to antibiotics like methicillin.

In the last few decades, many bacteria have become resistant to all the antibiotics that medical research has developed. Once this happens, these new drug-resistant superbugs can become lethal.

While most researchers continue to look for new drugs against these life-threatening bacteria, some scientists are discovering possible ways of increasing the effectiveness of current drugs.

For the last 10 years, green tea antibacterial research has shown that green tea has effective antibacterial action against MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, one of the superbugs that can be spread in hospitals.

A new study has confirmed the antibacterial action of green tea polyphenols against 17 different strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and 13 strains of oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

In addition to direct antibacterial action against all the strains, green tea also worked synergistically with oxacillin and increased the effectiveness of oxacillin by 8 to 128-fold (Cha Y, Antibacterial Effects of Green Tea Polyphenols on Clinical Isolates of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Current Microbiology, September 2008).

This research is considered preliminary and further studies are needed to find out if the polyphenols in a cup of green tea will be effective in other situations.

As of 2007, the CDC reports approximately 126,000 new hospitalizations for MRSA, with 94,000 serious cases and 19,000 deaths annually.


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What does MRSA look like?

Here are some MRSA bacteria pictures:

Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, MRSA

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MRSA Infections Occur Most Frequently in Hospitals and Healthcare

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