Best Treatment for MRSA uses essential oils

A laboratory study indicates that an antibacterial product that combines tea tree oil and white thyme oil with benzethonium chloride kills common types of non-hospital MRSA bacteria better than other compounds studied.  The findings were presented at a meeting of the American Society of Health-System  Pharmacists by an Oregon State University professor. The article I read stresses the benzethonium chloride as the main ingredient and barely mentions the essential oils, which are probably the active ingredients.

The other two compounds tested were standard antibacterial creams available over-the-counter at a pharmacy that contain antibiotics, and of course it makes sense that they wouldn't be very effective against MRSA, which stands for "methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus", ie. antibiotic resistant bacteria, and in fact actually contribute to the resistance due to the way they work.

The compound is sold by Tec Laboratories of Albany, Oregon, who funded the research study.

Some online research reveals that Benzethonium chloride, which is listed as an active ingredient on the MSDS for the compound, is a synthetic bactericide which apparently becomes an active ingredient "naturally" of Grapefruit Seed Extract when it is ammoniated during the manufacturing process (not used that way here). The same MSDS lists tea tree oil and thyme oil as "Inactive ingredients," which seems strange because if they are actually inactive they they probably aren't actually needed in the product, unless their purpose is to impart an odor that makes the product seem "medicinal."

So the question remains: is the Benzethonium chloride the primary bactericide here or is the effectiveness of the product actually due to the essential oils? Or perhaps it's the combination.