New research suggests that a 1,000 year old Anglo-Saxon potion used to help eye infections may hold the key to wiping out the modern-day superbug MRSA.

The 10th century recipe for “eyesalve” was discovered in Bald’s Leechbook, one of the earliest known medical textbooks, at the British Library. Christina Lee from the University of Nottingham, London, translated the ancient manuscript.

“We chose this recipe in Bald’s Leechbook because it contains ingredients such as garlic that are currently investigated by other researchers on their potential antibiotic effectiveness,” stated Lee in a video on the university’s website.

Lee enlisted the help of university microbiologists to test the remedy. The recipe calls for garlic, onion or leek, wine and oxgall (bile from a cow’s stomach) to be brewed in a brass vessel.

The instructions stated the recipe should be left standing for nine days before being strained through a cloth. The researchers then tested the concoction on cultures of MRSA, a type of staph bacterium that does not respond to commonly used antibiotic treatments.

Scientists were astonished by the lab results.

“What we found was very interesting – we found that Bald’s eyesalve is incredibly potent as an anti-Staphylococcal antibiotic in this context,” said microbiologist Freya Harrison, who led the work in the lab. “We were going from a mature, established population of a few billion cells, all stuck together in this highly protected biofilm coat, to really just a few thousand cells left alive. This is a massive, massive killing ability.”

Scientists were concerned they wouldn’t be able to replicate the results, but three more batches, made from scratch each time, have yielded the same results, according to Harrison. The salve even appears to retain potency after being stored in the refrigerator.

“I still can’t quite believe how well this 1,000 year old antibiotic actually seems to be working,” Harrison said. “Obviously you can never say with utter certainty that because it works in the lab it’s going to work as an antibiotic, but the potential of this to take on to the next stage is just beyond my wildest dreams, to be honest.”

Source: CNN