Probiotics can combat superbugs in the gut that have become resistant to antibiotics.

They successfully attacked a colony of MRSA (methicillin-resistant S.aureus), superbugs that can cause serious skin, bone, lung and blood infections if the skin barrier is broken.

A research team from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the US used the probiotic Bacillus subtilis on 115 participants, who all had been infected with the MRSA bug.  Around half were given the probiotic every day for four weeks, and the rest had a placebo.

After the four weeks, those taking the probiotic had a 96.8 percent reduction of the superbug in their stools, and there was a 65.4 percent fall in the amount that was in the nasal passages.

The probiotic didn’t kill the bacteria, but it stopped it from reproducing and developing, said Michael Otto, one of the researchers.

And unlike antibiotics, they don’t strip the gut of the ‘good’ bacteria.

Lancet Microbe, 2023; doi: 10.1016/S2666-5247(22)00322-6