Staph Retreat

What It Covers

Radiolab traces the antibiotic resistance crisis from Alexander Fleming's 1928 penicillin discovery through today's MRSA superbugs, then follows microbiologist Freya Harrison and historian Christina Lee as they test a 1,100-year-old Anglo-Saxon eye remedy from Bald's Leechbook against drug-resistant staph bacteria.

Key Questions Answered

• •Antibiotic Resistance Timeline: Every major antibiotic has faced resistance within months to years of release — methicillin lasted just eleven months before resistance emerged in 1961. After 2000, pharmaceutical companies largely abandoned antibiotic development because a ten-year, billion-dollar development cycle cannot recoup costs before resistance renders the drug obsolete.
• •Resistance Decay Principle: When an antibiotic is removed from circulation, bacterial resistance to it can decline over time. A compound that stopped working a thousand years ago may regain effectiveness today precisely because it was abandoned. This suggests rotating historical remedies in and out of use could extend their viable lifespan against evolving pathogens.
• •Bald's Eyesalve Formula: The Anglo-Saxon recipe combines equal parts onion and another allium (leek or garlic), bovine bile, and wine, mixed in a brass or bronze vessel and stored for nine days before use. Each ingredient contributes antimicrobial properties, and the copper vessel adds an additional antibacterial element absent from modern preparation methods.
• •MRSA Kill Rate: When tested against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in laboratory wound models, Bald's Eyesalve eliminated approximately 90% of bacterial cells. The result was replicated across five separate trials and independently confirmed by a collaborator at Texas Tech University, ruling out contamination or experimental error as explanations.
• •Phase One Safety Milestone: As of 2022, Bald's Eyesalve cleared phase one clinical safety trials in healthy human subjects. Researchers have since identified the specific active chemical compounds responsible for antibacterial activity, enabling a distilled, standardized formulation — a necessary step before the remedy can advance toward pharmaceutical approval and clinical use.