Tea Tree Oil Linked to Antibiotic Resistance

February 19th, 2007 · 6 Comments

tea-tree-oil-antibiotic-resistance I hate to hear this, but some folk’s favorite remedy for MRSA/Staph boils - tea tree oil (aka melaleuca oil) - has been proven to cause antibiotic resistance. What this means for you is that if tea tree oil has been doing a bang up job healing your infections, it won’t last forever. Your infections will get worse. This problem of bacteria changing so it is unaffected by the current things that kill it is the basis of antibiotic resistance, and we should be very careful to avoid doing things that make bacteria stronger. From what I understand, the minute quantities of tea tree oil in products like shampoos and other bath and body products can contribute as well, so if you are a faithful user of one of these products, you should probably consider switching to something else. I bet Melaleuca is not thrilled to hear this news. Neither am I.

Alternative therapy, Education, Infection Prevention, MRSA, MRSA Drugs, Research and Development, Superbugs

6 responses so far ↓

b5media - a global blog network - Better Living Through Science and Health // Feb 21, 2007 at 11:57 am

[...] Christina Jones at MRSA Notes informs us that tea tree oil has been linked to antibiotic resistance. [...]
Liz K // Mar 24, 2007 at 9:00 am

Please note that this has to do with dosage of the substance rather than the substance itself.

Full strength tea tree oil or a stronger concentration that is effective in KILLING the bacteria is fine.

Weaker concentrations allow bacteria to survive and evolve into their resistant forms.

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=21941
Nick H // Oct 5, 2007 at 9:16 am

Can you please provide a reference to the study you’re talking about?
StaphWash.com // Oct 6, 2007 at 11:25 am

Nick, a very good point. There so much bad B S
out there that one doesn’t know what to use.
But, if you have time, look @
http://WWW.StaphWash.com
Read Carolyn’s story
Linda // Oct 7, 2007 at 9:00 am

Yes, Please provide us with the article you are referring too. Thanks!!
Shea Kauffman // Mar 5, 2008 at 1:24 am

Fact of the matter is that Tea Tree Oil has been shown to be effective in high concentrations against MRSA.

It is the usage in low doses like one finds in beauty products that seems to encourage resistance.

Here’s an article about the study:
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=21941

Quote from the researchers:
“The bottom line is that tea tree oil should not be used at low concentrations - less than 4% - to make sure that bacteria are killed, not just stressed. Otherwise we are just arming the bacteria against treatment by antibiotics.”

BTW, for the time being one has to treat with something and the CDC is recomending that antibiotics no longer be prescribed for MRSA. If it comes a time when MRSA is also resistant to Tea-Tree oil, we’ll switch to Geranium Oil or something. Or better yet a better way of fighting bacteria will be invented.

-Shea

P.S. I tend to think 20% TT with 80% high absorbancy skin lotion.

MRSA Notes