According to a study from the Journal of Natural Products, cannabinoids could be a possible treatment for MRSA infections.

Two researchers from the Piemonte Orientale University in Italy and the University of London in the U.K. applied five cannabinoid extracts to bacterial cultures of six strains of MRSA. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacteria which causes hard-to-treat infections through open wounds in patients with weak immune systems.

The researchers found cannabinoids did not interfere with antibiotic activity originally used to treat the infection. They are currently used to treat MRSA, but the infection can develop resistance against antibiotics. 

“The cannabinoids even showed exceptional activity against the MRSA strain that makes extra amounts of the proteins that give the bugs resistance against many antibiotics,” says Simon Gibbons, the researcher from the University of London. “These proteins allow the bacteria to hoover up unwanted things from inside the cell and spit them out again.”

The pair said they still don’t know which method could be the most effective in treating MRSA in a patient since cannabinoids could be inactivated by blood serum.