Green tea exhibits anti-MRSA activity. - GreenMedInfo Summary

The antibacterial effects of tea polyphenols (TPP) extracted from Korean green tea (Camellia sinensis) against clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were evaluated. Characterization of the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of oxacillin for 30 S. aureus strains isolated from patients treated with oxacillin identified 13 strains with an oxacillin MIC>or= 4 microg/mL as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (range: 8 to 512 microg/mL), while 17 strains were methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) (range: 0.25-0.5 microg/mL). The MICs of TPP ranged from 50 to 180 microg/mL for both the MSSA and the MRSA strains. The MICs of oxacillin for each of the 13 MRSA strains were reduced between 8- and 128-fold when these strains were coincubated with sub-MIC (