Study Finds Honey Kills 85 per cent of Bacteria Found in Hard to Treat Wounds

Cardiff University research has showed that manuka honey makes it more difficult for bacteria to take over wounds, by preventing them from forming impenetrable ‘living film’. In tests, the honey eased and prevented hard-to-treat wound infections.

Just two hours of honey treatment killed 85 per cent of bacteria, the journal Microbiology reports and though honey’s healing powers have been touted in the past the science behind it has not been fully understood.

The study focused on manuka honey, made from nectar collected by bees foraging on New Zealand’s manuka trees, and a type of bacteria called Streptococcus pyogenes. A bacteria that is harmless when on the skin but can causes major problems when in a wound.

Once inside, the germ forms films that prevent antibiotics from getting to work and stop the wound from healing. The study showed that very small concentrations of the honey stopped these films from forming and was even effective in cases in which the bacteria had already formed the film. There, just two hours of treatment killed more than eight in ten bugs.

Researcher Dr Sarah Maddocks said: “There is an urgent need to find innovative and effective ways of controlling wound infections that are unlikely to contribute to increased antimicrobial resistance. No instances of honey-resistant bacteria have been reported to date, or seem likely. This is significant as chronic wounds account for up to 4 per cent of health care expenses in the developed world.”

Manuka honey is effective against more than 80 different types of bacteria, including superbug MRSA. While all types of honey have some antibacterial properties, the ingredients of manuka honey make it particularly powerful. However, supermarket honey will not do.  Any honey used be must be sterilized to make it of medical grade.

 

New Delhi water found to contain multi drug resistant “superbug”

A study in The Lancet Medical Journal states that the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1 (NDM-1) producing bacteria was found in 51 out of 171 samples taken from water pools and two out of 50 tap water samples taken in the city. First discovered in 2009, NDM-1 is a gene that enables certain kinds of bacteria to be highly resistant to a majority of antibiotics. While doctors called for urgent global action to prevent the spread of the “superbug” in the most recent research paper, the Indian Council of Medical Research called for calm in the capital city which is home to 16 million residents.

ICMR director-general V. M. Katoch told the Press Trust of India “Hospitals should follow appropriate safety norms, If the report applies to India, then it applies to Europe also.”

The World Health Organization called for monitoring after independent researchers conducted studies in September and October last year and cases of infection were reported around the globe, despite the Indian government dismissing the research as scaremongering. Researchers say the presence of NDM-1-producing bacteria has important implications for New Delhi residents because of their reliance on public water supplies. The transfer of NDM-1 between different bacteria was highest at 30 degrees Celsius which is within the range of temperatures in New Delhi for seven months of the year. The report states that “This period includes the monsoon season, when floods and drain overflows are most likely, which potentially disseminates resistant bacteria,”. The authors also say that “Oral-fecal transmission of bacteria is a problem worldwide, but its potential risk varies with the standards of sanitation. In India, this transmission represents a serious problem because 650 million citizens do not have access to a flush toilet and even more probably do not have access to clean water.” Pakistan and Bangladesh have also been identified as sourcesof NDM-1.