Dying from a fungus infection in his blood American physician Dr Cass Ingram claims that pure wild oregano was the only thing that saved his life.

According to Dr Ingram, a surgeon and nutrition expert, oregano is the "herb superb" and one of the most important natural medications you need in your medicine cabinet. He recently published a book entitled "The cure is in the cupboard : how to use oregano for better health" which describes anti-septic, anti-biotic and anti-pain uses of the herb and oil of wild oregano. Dr Ingram explains how to heal sore throats by gargling with the oil in salt water, curing acne by mixing the oil into facial soap, stopping diarrhoea by drinking a few drops of oil in a juice, opening sinuses instantly by inhaling the oil vapours from a bottle, relieving headaches with a few drops of the oil rubbed on the forehead and scalp, and using oregano capsules to help asthma sufferers. And move out of the way E. Coli, salmonella and lice - Dr Ingram says that oregano will eradicate them!

Ingram was accidentally stuck with a used IV needle several years ago while working. "For a doctor, that can be a catastrophe, l slipped into a state of health and had to close my clinic" he recalled, breaking out in psoriasis and being too weak to walk, often having to crawl to the cupboard for medication. His body temperature dropped to 94.2 degrees and touching his skin was he said like touching a corpse.

"A kind soul brought me oregano oil and said try it, l took some each day but it was not enough, but then l started to investigate it and found that the wild herb of oregano was available in the Mediterranean region and having relatives there asked them to pick some and send it to me in the America".

Oregano found in grocery stores was not the wild kind he stresses, some of the bottled kind on the shelves is actually sage bush from Mexico. Ingram started taking the wild oregano by the spoonful and his condition was cured. To-day Ingram still takes oregano "if l don't l notice it, it is the only thing that helps me - there is no doubt in my mind that it works"

According to the International Journal of Food Microbiology, wild oregano and the oils of the wild plant totally destroy fungus. It is a plant antibacterial says Ingram. "Researchers took the oil of oregano from Greece and put one drop with 50,000 drops of water, and that tiny amount stopped bacteria growing"

A cold or Flu can be knocked out in a day and Ingram says he has used oregano oil to remove warts - "you put it against the wart and it is gone".

Today, herbs and spices are coming back to play a big part in medication as there are problems that man-made drugs can't help, "we aren't so sophisticated anymore" he said "in the 1920's you saw bottles of essential oils and natural herbal remedies that native Americans made out of respect and tradition, and our pharmacies used to stock natural remedies in the 1930's but then drug companies came along and attempted to patent remedies and that changed the course of things. You can't patent oregano or honey and so on, so they disappeared from the doctors prescribing list".

Research is clear he notes - natural herbs and spices can cure ailments and true wild oregano is one of the most powerful.