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How effective is tea tree oil on?

How effective is tea tree oil in treating staph infections?

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    Nobody knows.  This is a fact, and claims to the contrary are just ill-supported opinions.There is no doubt that tea tree oil has significant antimicrobial properties.  It has been used successfully to decolonize Staph bacteria, including MRSA, from the skin of patients.But killing bacteria in a Petri dish, or removing it from skin are NOT the same as treating an infection.  Let me repeat that: not the same.  Staphylococcus aureus is highly evolved to persist in wounds.  It has dozens of tricks that it uses to decoy and evade the immune system, and to neutralize the chemical agents sent by immune system cells to destroy it.  Many of these tricks work against other chemicals as well, frustrating the hopes of researchers who believe they may have found a cure.  If everything that worked in a test tube worked in actual wounds, we would never suffer from Staph infections.Although there are many published studies that suggest Tea Tree Oil has potential as a wound therapeutic, I can find only two actual clinical trials in the Pubmed data base, and they are very weak.  One study , which had no controls and a mere 11 subjects,  found only that TTO "did not appear to inhibit healing" of MRSA skin infections.The other study found a small positive effect, but was weakly controlled and contained only 10 subjects. So that's the evidence: two tiny studies, neither was blinded or well-controlled, one found no negative effect, and the other found a positive effect.  That is simply not enough evidence to conclude anything at all about the efficacy of Tea Tree Oil. I'm sure that plenty of people have used TTO and seen wounds heal.  But most wounds heal anyway.  If they didn't, none of us would be here to have this discussion. It's entirely possible that TTO helps with wound healing.  But there is no evidence for saying so - only anecdote and opinion.Footnoteshttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21564552http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23848210

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According to the Journal of Hospital Infection, people with Staph infections can depend on tea tree oil for a treatment. During the past years, people normally use tea tree oil to treat fungal and bacterial infections. This is primarily because tea tree oil contains natural antiseptic agent, a chemical content that slows down or stops the growth of bacteria that reside in the skin. Since these bacteria are the main causes of infection and the disease, the natural healing properties that tea tree oil contains can help you cure it. According to http://www.bastyrcenter.org/content/view/972/, success rate of tea tree oil’s treatment against Staph infections and any other infections is remarkable as this oil was proven to treat 49% of MRSA infections. Aside from treating infections, tea tree oil can also be used as hand sanitizers, cleaning solutions, and liquid soaps. While applying tea tree oil, make sure that you don’t have allergies to it in order to avoid untoward reactions.

Nastassia Green

Tea tree oil has been shown to be effective against staph infections (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1360273/).  In general, there are many types of essential oils that are effective in slowing growth rates of bacteria, or killing them. D Gary Young has done a lot of research on how different essential oils can help treat various symptoms (http://www.dgaryyoung.com/d-gary-young-about.php)

Annabelle Smyth

MediHoney,full strength. it is better than antibiotics, it kills bacteria in a different way that no staph infection including MRSA can survive. Plus infections can never gain a resistance to it.  Bees from New Zealand collect the pollen from Tea Tree blossoms, then they make honey that has medical benefits.  How this special honey works is it draws the moisture out of infections so they can not reproduce.  $25-50 for the manuka honey, this is a dirty secret that pharmaceutical companies do not wan you to know, cause they make a killing on antibiotics. You don't need to get a prescription just find it online at make sure it is the strongest maunka you can buy. It is also great for your skin, tea, and a million other health benefits.

Mary Jane

Can't give medical advice on here; there is solid literature that supports such treatment;   See:     http://www.ijaaonline.com/article/S0924-8579(13)00007-1/abstract     But don't be 'too liberal' with it's use; it is systemically 'strong stuff' if you cover yourself with it daily.     Don't forget that Tolnaftate may be an adjunct. (You can alternate treatment).

Cary Mcdonald

I don't know, but this I do know...If you use a tea-tree ointment containing too little tea-tree oil to kill the bugs it will only select bugs that are immune to  low concentrations. Soon the oil will be useless. On the other hand, don't use the oil neat, because it will burn your skin.

Ian McAllister

Tea tree oil is best to cure any type of http://www.defensesoap.com/fungal-skin-infection.html including staph infection. Tea tree oil uses are numerous: making homemade cleaning products, diffusing it in the air to kill mold, applying it topically to heal skin issues and taking it internally to treat viral infections. It’s becoming an increasingly popular active ingredient in a variety of household and cosmetic products, including face wash, shampoos, massage oils, skin and nail creams and laundry detergents. Tea tree’s natural antiseptic and anti-inflammatory actions make it an essential oil that should truly be part of everyone’s natural medicine cabinet.

Amber Clark

I have had several staph infections in the past year. I grew tired of going to the clinic, and decided to treat the infections myself. I would keep every thing in my home clean, wash bed sheets, and clothes. I Invested in some bandages, lots of tea tree oil, and bacon. I know it might seem silly, but using fat meats and placing them on the infected area for 12-24 hours will open up the wound so you can clean it. Once it was open I cleaned it and placed a tree oil soaked bandage on the infection. In a week the infection was gone. When more staph infections would pop up, I would just repeat the steps. Now no more infections! But yes, I would say that using tea tree oil is defiantly effective!

Jacqulyn Anthony

Don't know about tea tree but if you are trying to get rid of staph colonization because of recurrent abscesses this is what I recommend. Chlorhexidine bath for seven days and mupirocin ointment for seven days as well. Source : I am a physician in training and I learned this from my infectious disease supervisor

Anonymous

Tea tree can have some benefit, as some research (available on http://PubMed.gov have shown). However, for MRSA infections, the staph bacteria most resistant to antibiotics, only one single essential oil as been shown effective in treatment. "Benchmark" http://anandaapothecary.com/aromatherapy-essential-oils/thyme-essential-oil.html was developed by a company in in the UK by blending pure essential oil from 4 strains of Thymus Zygis plants. Evidence for the essential oil's efficacy has been published in the book 'Aromatherapy vs. MRSA'.

Anonymous

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