Hi Myke,



I currently don't need to use anything, because my Arafura is doing fine. However, with the research that I have done on other treatments (salt baths, etc)--the diluted Tea Tree Oil is going to be my first treatment if the need arises.



At first the Tea Tree Oil was sounding like "Snake Oil" (pun intended), but the more I've looked into it--the more it appears to have a lot of healing properties. There is Global research going on with this stuff. It has attracted a lot of attention to itself---which is good.



From the Research Page at the Australian Tea Tree Industry Association:



Comprehensive susceptibility data for fungi, including those involved in human skin infections



"A new paper from the Tea Tree Oil Research Group at The University of Western Australia has been published and provides the most comprehensive data yet on the susceptibility of dermatophytes and other filamentous fungi to tea tree oil (TTO). Appearing in the August edition of the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (Hammer et al., 50:196-199), the article reports TTO susceptibility data for 106 dermatophyte isolates and 78 isolates of other filamentous fungi. Organisms in the genera Epidermophyton, Microsporum and Trichophyton are known collectively as dermatophytes and are the causative agents of several common skin infections including tinea and ringworm. The other filamentous fungi tested include organisms such as Alternaria, Fusarium and Penicillium species that are ubiquitous in the environment, although rarely cause infections in humans. The results show that low concentrations of TTO ranging from 0.016-0.03% inhibit the growth of 90% of the dermatophytes while concentrations in the order of 0.25-1% kill them. Low concentrations of TTO (0.06-0.12%) also inhibit the growth of 90% of the other filamentous fungi while higher concentrations of TTO (2-8%) are required to kill these fungi. Additional work reported in the paper examined the killing effect of TTO against selected fungi over time and the activity of TTO against fungal conidia (spore-like structures) before and after germination.



The results of this work provide a sound basis for the subsequent development of therapeutically active TTO products. TTO clearly has activity against a number of fungi relevant to clinical infections in humans. If products that retain or augment this antimicrobial activity can be formulated and proven efficacious in controlled clinical trials, TTO can become formally recognised as a viable alternative to conventional antifungal agents."



Even though we can't just believe everything we read---Humans have been using the Tea Tree for its healing benefits for a long, long time, and I personally believe that nature has all the answers.

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