LTCN February 2019, page 3, soil, bottom left story

Scientists at the Swansea University Medical School in the UK have found that a traditional Irish folk medicine could help to address healthcare’s ongoing antibiotic resistance problem.

They noted that soil samples came from grasslands in Northern Ireland contained a previously unfound strain of bacteria, which has “remarkable” medicinal properties. Investigations revealed that this strain stopped the growth of MRSA and three other superbugs, researchers noted in Frontiers in Microbiology.

Ancient healers in Ireland would often use soil from the site to treat everything from toothaches to throat infections.