Update: Comments from a Grand Rapids infectious disease
specialist. If you wanted another good reason to start your day
with a hot cup of coffee or tea, consider this news: A study
found tea and coffee drinkers are less likely to have the
superbug MRSA in their nostrils. It might be enough to make you
pour a second cup. And maybe blow your nose as well. The report
published in the Annals of Family Medicine looked at the coffee-
and tea-drinking habits of 5,500 people who took part in a
government study. It found they were half as likely to have
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in their nostrils.
The bacteria, because it is resistant to the antibiotic
methicillin, is difficult to treat. The reassuring news is the
superbug is not commonly found in nasal carriage -- it occurs in
only about 1.4 percent of the population. So why did the
researchers decide to study the effect of coffee and tea on
MRSA? Because both have been found to have "antimicrobial
properties" against different forms of bacteria. An