Researchers Look to Honey in Fight Against Methicillin-Resistant Staph Infections
Posted on October 23, 2007
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Honey may be key in the battle against superbugs like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), according to recent reports in Wired, The Washington Post, and Nature. The healing properties of honey were recognized by the ancient Sumerians, and honey remained a common antimicrobial therapy until the 1950s when penicillin was introduced.
Dressings made from honey are particularly effective at treating MRSA, and are already widely used for wound care in New Zealand where they harvest manuka, a bitter, medicinal tasting honey with exceptional antimicrobial properties. Manuka honey is catching on worldwide, and manuka dressings manufactured by Derma Sciences even became FDA approved for wound care in the United States in mid-2007. Honey dressings produce good results on a wide spectrum of wound types.
Although the antibacterial effect of bee honey is increasingly accepted by the medical research community, the way in which it works is still poorly understood. It is known that bees secrete an enzyme that causes a chemical reaction that produces hydrogen peroxide. In addition to the role that enzyme may play, researchers are looking into the composition of honey, with its low water/high sugar makeup, to explain its ability to inhibit MRSA and other staph infections.
Although some American doctors remain skeptical, promising studies in Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand are paving the way for further research. To date, more than 2000 people have participated clinical trials studying the efficacy of honey in wound treatment. Considering the overwhelmingly positive results of these studies, biochemist Peter Molan, a University of Waikato expert on the treatment of wounds with honey, laments that honey therapy hasn’t been universally accepted as a dressing for wounds.
With the recent media focus on antibiotic-resistant strains of staph and other superbugs, alternative therapies that supplement or replace ineffective antibiotics are receiving a lot of attention. Honey, both cheaper and potentially safer than silver and iodine, is poised to emerge as a leading staph infection treatment.
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