From Wendy Kimpton, Melbourne, Australia
You say it that it is not uncommon for people in Zimbabwe to eat soil as an instinctive way of redressing dietary deficiencies in trace minerals, and that the soil also contains a treatment for diarrhoea (27 May, p 54). Given that soil bacteria from South Africa have been found to contain an antibiotic effective in eliminating two common hospital superbugs, perhaps the soil also provides such consumers with antibiotic protection from other bacteria (20 May, p 22).
It seems as though the traditions of non-western societies may provide directional pointers for our sometimes blinkered, western scientific hypotheses. This may bring cheaper and faster routes to improving our knowledge bases.
