The discovery of bacteria in Irish soil could help lead scientists to a powerful new antibiotic. The bacteria found in soil in county Fermanagh shows that “folklore and traditional medicines are worth investigating” according to researchers.
Despite the fact antibiotics are one of medicine’s most successful developments, having saved millions of lives worldwide since their creation 100 years ago, their overuse worldwide has created a significant threat to their usefulness. Overuse of penicillin and other antibiotics has enabled disease-causing bacteria to mutate and become resistant to treatments.
Superbugs such as MRSA are resistant to antibiotics, and recent research states they could have the potential to kill up to 1.3 million people across Europe by 2050. This problem is “one of the biggest threats to global health, food security and development today” according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). It means there is a scramble to develop new drugs but the challenge is significant, with progress so far being much slower than required to avoid societies being left defenceless against fast developing superbugs.
The search for new drugs as a substitute for antibiotics has led scientists to a remote corner of Ireland. Tapping into local folklore during their search, scientists have tested soil in the Boho Highlands in Fermanagh. Researchers from Swansea University Medical School analysed soil from the region in Northern Ireland, discovering that it contains a strain of bacteria, which they named Streptomyces sp. Myrophorea. This particular strain of bacteria is believed to be effective against four out of the top six superbugs.
Incredibly, the move to investigate the soil was prompted by folklore. The willingness of scientists to investigate an ancient legend in the Northern county is an indication that scepticism surrounding the seriousness and legitimacy of folklore may indeed be shifting.
According to folklore, the soil is reputed to have medicinal properties. This is a belief about the area of alkaline grassland that is held by many local people; one member of the research team, microbiologist Dr Gerry Quinn, himself grew upin the West Fermanagh area five miles from the border with the Republic of Ireland, and knew about the reputation of the soil.
According to Dr Quinn who spoke to Smithsonian Magazine about the reputed properties of the soil, there is a longstanding belief among parishioners that the soil an old parish priest, Fr James McGirr, is buried beneath has almost miraculous curative powers. Fr James McGirr died in 1815 at the age of 70.
“The good father is said to have been a faith healer. On his deathbed he supposedly declared: ‘After I die, the clay that covers me will cure anything that I was able to cure when I was with you while I was alive,’” Dr Quinn recounts.
This created a local custom of petitioners kneeling beside Fr McGirr’s grave to remove a small patch of soil and place it in a cotton pouch.
Dr Quinn explains: “They will then bring the packets home—taking pains not to speak to anyone they encountered on the road—and place the pouches under their pillows. The soil is believed to alleviate many minor ailments, like flesh wounds and sore throats.”
The Boho Highlands were occupied by Neolithic people 4000 years ago and Druids 1500 years ago. Right up until this day, local people have been known to wrap the soil from the area in cloths to treat of alleviate different ailments and pains, including throat and neck infections as well as toothaches.
Professor Paul Dyson of Swansea University Medical School said that the results from Fermanagh proved that folklore was worth looking into.
“Our results show that folklore and traditional medicines are worth investigating in the search for new antibiotics. Scientists, historians and archaeologists can all have something to contribute to this task. It seems that part of the answer to this very modern problem might lie in the wisdom of the past,” Prof Dyson said.
The Streptomyces found in the Boho Highlands restrained the growth of four out of the top six multi-resistant pathogens (Vancomycin resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Klebsiella pneumonia, and Carbenepenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii).
Prof Dyson added: “This new strain of bacteria is effective against 4 of the top 6 pathogens that are resistant to antibiotics, including MRSA. Our discovery is an important step forward in the fight against antibiotic resistance.”
Dr Quinn said that the discovery of the antimicrobial substances would prove helpful in the pursuit of new drugs to treat superbugs.
“The discovery of antimicrobial substances from Streptomyces sp.myrophorea will help in our search for new drugs to treat multi-resistant bacteria, the cause of many dangerous and lethal infections.
“We will now concentrate on the purification and identification of these antibiotics. We have also discovered additional antibacterial organisms from the same soil cure which may cover a broader spectrum of multi-resistant pathogens.”
The Swansea University research team continues to investigate various components of the new strain to establish which prevents the growth of pathogens.