Sludge Watch ==> Honey as topical antibiotic

[Maureen Reilly]

another reason why the decline of bee populations is great cause for concern 
. . . . .
(Thanks to Helane Sheilds)
.....................

Last updated May 1, 2007 5:40 p.m. PT

Doctor finds a sweet remedy
THE ECONOMIST

Hospitals do more than house sick patients while they are treated. They also 
provide convenient havens for dangerous bacteria. Cramming infirm people 
into one place creates the ideal breeding ground for disease. Add a 
sprinkling of antibiotics and drug-resistant strains emerge -- the superbugs 
that are endemic in many places.

One doctor, however, thinks he has rediscovered an old weapon that could be 
useful in the fight against those nasties. It is honey.

Honey was commonly used in medicine before antibiotics became widespread. It 
is still used in the Antipodes; an Australian company makes a product called 
Medihoney for medicinal use. This formulation is a certified medicine in 
Europe, but has not been much used there because doctors developed a taste 
for prescribing conventional antibiotics.

Arne Simon of Bonn University Children's Clinic in Germany is now leading an 
international study to compare honey with existing drugs. The investigation 
will involve 150 patients in several countries including Britain, Germany 
and Australia.

Simon already has used honey on 150 patients who were not responding to 
treatment, with some promising results. The patients often were children 
whose immune systems had been weakened by chemotherapy, which left their 
wounds from surgery vulnerable to infection. Around a third of them were 
also given some antibiotics at the same time as having their wounds dressed 
with honey.

One patient, whose wounds had become infected by the potentially fatal 
strain of Staphylococcus aureus that is resistant to the antibiotic 
methicillin (MRSA), and who failed to respond to other drugs, was free of 
this superbug within 48 hours of receiving the honey treatment.

Research in Australia and New Zealand suggests that honey heals because it 
attacks bacteria in several different ways at once. Because honey is 
composed of saturated sugars, it sucks up water, depriving bacteria of the 
liquid they need to survive and multiply. As bees make honey they secrete 
glucoseoxidase, an enzyme that releases the bleach hydrogen peroxide when it 
comes into contact with wound liquids. The low-level but frequent release of 
this chemical ensures regular antibacterial washes of the wound.

Although honey is not about to usurp antibiotics, Simon thinks it should be 
brought back into conventional medicine -- and not only to sugar the pill.