Researchers in a new study have found that a number of essential oils are effective in killing drug-resistant bacteria.

Of the eight oils they tested, thyme and cinnamon essential oils were particularly potent.

Now, researchers at the Technological Educational Institute of Ionian Islands in Greece have found that plant oils are a powerful weapon against multi-drug-resistant staphylococcus aureas or MRSA, a bacterium that causes hospital-acquired infections and is dangerous because it frequently does not respond to a range of antibiotics.

Effemia Eriotou is a professor at the Institute in charge of the research project involving plant oils to treat multi-drug-resistant staphylococcus aureas. “We didn’t know that essential oils were going to have that a great anti-microbial activity. And it’s really amazing that they are killing all these bacteria and yeasts as well,” Eriotou said.

In laboratory experiments, the research group tested a variety of essential oils from eight plants, including thyme, basil, peppermint and cinnamon. Eriotou says they all had some anti-bacterial activity, but essential oil from thyme – a spice frequently used in Mediterranean cooking – killed almost all of the bacterium in a petri dish within an hour. Almost as effective was cinnamon oil.

Source: Moldova.org

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