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CBD helps fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria according to a recent University of Southern Denmark study.

A University of Southern Denmark study, released on March 24, 2020, suggests that combining antibiotics with CBD can help to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria, Science Daily reports.

In the study, CBD was used as a “helper compound” to enhance the effect of the antibiotic bacitracin against a staph infection, which frequently causes community- and hospital-acquired disease.

Janne Kudsk Klitgaard is Principal Investigator and corresponding author. The first author is Ph.D. student Claes Søndergaard Wassmann. The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

When the researchers combined CBD and antibiotics, they saw a more powerful effect than when treating with antibiotics alone. So, in order to kill a certain number of bacteria, we needed fewer antibiotics, according to the researchers.

“Cannabidiol is an effective helper compound in combination with bacitracin to kill Gram-positive bacteria,” Scientific Reports.

In the study, CBD was used to enhance the effect of the antibiotic bacitracin against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria; a major human pathogen that frequently causes community- and hospital-acquired disease.

According to the researchers, the overuse of antibiotics is the main cause of antibiotic resistance.

If we combine an antibiotic with a helper compound, that enhances the effect of the antibiotic, we need fewer antibiotics to achieve the same effect. This may contribute to the development of fewer resistant bacteria, says Janne Kudsk Klitgaard.

Also, Australian researchers recently found that CBD by itself worked as a potent antibiotic killing all strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in a lab test.

That study found that the bacteria did not become resistant to the CBD even after being exposed to it for 20 days – the period when bacteria can become antibiotic-resistant.

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