Minerals in French Clay Cure Deadly Drug-Resistant bacteriaBoulder, CO, USA - French clay that kills several kinds of disease-causing bacteria is at the forefront of new research into age-old,nearly forgotten, but surprisingly potent cures. Among the malevolentbacteria that a French clay has been shown to fight is a "flesh-eating" bug (M. ulcerans) on the rise in Africa and the germ calledMRSA, which was blamed for the recent deaths of two children inVirginia and Mississippi."There are very compelling reports of clay treating infections, butthat's anecdotal evidence, not science," said Lynda Williams, anassociate research professor in the School of Earth and SpaceExploration at Arizona State University, Tempe. Williams iscoordinating three teams of U.S. researchers (at ASU, USGS, and SUNY-Buffalo) studying healing clays under a two-year, $440,000 grant fromthe National Institutes of Health-National Center for Complementaryand Alternative Medicine. Her ASU colleague Shelley Haydel is lendingher expertise in clinical medicine to perform the microbiologicalresearch.For thousands of years, people have used clay to heal wounds, sootheindigestion, and kill intestinal worms. Though the practice hasdeclined in modern times, the recent rise of drug-resistant germs hasscientists looking more closely at these ancient remedies to learnexactly what they can do and how they do it."We're beginning to generate the first scientific evidence of why someminerals might kill bacterial organisms and others might not," saidWilliams.In laboratory tests at ASU's Biodesign Institute, co-PI Haydel, anassistant professor in the School of Life Sciences, showed that oneclay killed bacteria responsible for many human illnesses, including:Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA),penicillin-resistant S. aureus (PRSA), and pathogenic Escherichia coli.

It also killed Mycobacterium ulcerans, a germ related to leprosy and tuberculosis that causes the flesh-eating disease Buruli ulcer. This effect was first described in 2002, by Line Brunet de Courssou, a French humanitarian working in the Ivory Coast, Africa, who cured Buruli ulcers with daily applications of French clay she knew from childhood. Currently, advanced cases of Buruli ulcer can only be cured by surgical excision or amputation. The new medicinal clay research will be presented on Monday, 29 October 2007, at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Denver. In the same session there will be a related presentation describing the work 100 years ago of Julius Stumpf, a German physician and scientist who used white clay from Germany to treat a deadly form of Asian cholera; diphtheria; gangrene; ulcers of the tibia (a bone between the knee and foot); and the skin disease eczema http://www.geosociety.org/news/pr/07-58.htm\

(E. coli).It also killed Mycobacterium ulcerans, a germ related to leprosy andtuberculosis that causes the flesh-eating disease Buruli ulcer. Thiseffect was first described in 2002, by Line Brunet de Courssou, aFrench humanitarian working in the Ivory Coast, Africa, who curedBuruli ulcers with daily applications of French clay she knew fromchildhood. Currently, advanced cases of Buruli ulcer can only be curedby surgical excision or amputation.The new medicinal clay research will be presented on Monday, 29October 2007, at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting inDenver.In the same session there will be a related presentation describingthe work 100 years ago of Julius Stumpf, a German physician andscientist who used white clay from Germany to treat a deadly form ofAsian cholera; diphtheria; gangrene; ulcers of the tibia (a bonebetween the knee and foot); and the skin disease eczema.

http://www.geosociety.org/news/pr/07-58.htm

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