Special Sponge

A HUMBLE kitchen sponge could hold the key to wiping out the deadly superbug MRSA, Scots scientists have discovered.

Rife in modern hospitals, MRSA has claimed the lives of thousands of patients, but is resistant to most antibiotics.

Now biologists working on a powerful new antibiotic have found the best way to cultivate the cure is on the surface of an ordinary kitchen scouring pad - and strangely, one brand alone.

The experts at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh have spent the past five years developing the antibiotic from bacteria found on seaweed from North Berwick, East Lothian.

But bizarrely, the antibiotic can only be grown on a kitchen sponge sold in Morrisons supermarkets, at a bargain 89p for a packet of eight (11p each).

We all know that a dirty, old sponge can harbor bacteria. Who knew that we could use this to our advantage against bacteria?