Links of interest: Can honey combat MRSA?

How honey kills bacteria (The FASEB Journal)

To characterize all bactericidal factors in a medical-grade honey, we used a novel approach of successive neutralization of individual honey bactericidal factors. All bacteria tested, including Bacillus subtilis, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing Escherichia coli, ciprofloxacin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium, were killed by 10–20% (v/v) honey, whereas ≥40% (v/v) of a honey-equivalent sugar solution was required for similar activity.

Secret Ingredient That Kills Bacteria Identified In Honey (Medical News Today)

“We’ve known for millennia that honey can be good for what ails us, but we haven’t known how it works,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of the FASEB Journal, “Now that we’ve extracted a potent antibacterial ingredient [defensin-1] from honey, we can make it still more effective and take the sting out of bacterial infections.”

A sweet solution to antibiotic-resistance? (Time)

The researchers are hopeful that they can build on these initial findings to develop new uses for this potent ingredient in honey, and in light of an alarming trend of antibiotic-resistance, ultimately even put defensin-1 to use as an alternative to current antibiotics.

Anti-bacterial properties in honey help fight infections, research finds (The Med Guru)

Some of the other characteristics of honey that are responsible for its potential ability to kill bacteria are: Osmolarity, acidity, hydrogen peroxide and floral nectar. Honey is a super-saturated solution of sugar that is high in osmolarity. High osmolarity allows honey to destroy bacteria and fungus by drawing moisture from their cells. Honey has a acidic pH ranging between 3.2 and 4.5 which inhibits the growth of bacteria. The optimum pH for growth of these species falls between 7.2 and 7.4. Hydrogen peroxide kills bacteria on contact while floral nectar enhances its anti microbial properties to kill antibiotic resistant strains.

Resources:

Image source: Green Prophet

Paulus H. S. Kwakman et al., How honey kills bacteria, The FASEB Journal (The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology), 2010, Vol. 24, pp. 2576-2582

Cody Mooneyhan, Secret Ingredient That Kills Bacteria Identified In Honey, Medical News Today, July 2, 2010

Tiffany O’Callaghan, A sweet solution to antibiotic-resistance?, Time, July 1, 2010

Silky Chandvani, Anti-bacterial properties in honey help fight infections, research finds, The Med Guru, July 2, 2010

2 Responses to Links of interest: Can honey combat MRSA?

Hailey says:

March 23, 2011 at 3:45 pm

Rising cases of MRSA among autistics is undoubetely linked to hospital acquired infections due to hospitals failing to adequately treat patients with autism. For example, the unbelievable systematic doping and restraining of patients with open cuts in hospital settings without the slightest concern of protecting open wounds during hospital stays and the epidemic of staff at hospitals following proper procedures to curtail hospital acquired infections by following proper infection control: ie…wearing gloves, changing IV tubing and needles, providing proper wound care, etc….INVESTIGATION of how hospitals are failing autistic patients is long overdue. Autistic patients are increasingly neglected in medical settings. Follow up is slim, if any. Undetected infections often a result of failure to test and treat. Botched exams. Blood tests revealing infections often missed and not identified until parents or caregivers push for results, leaving patient suffering with prolonged infections that could’ve otherwise been promptly treated.
- Jan says:
  
  March 23, 2011 at 8:05 pm
  
  Thanks for your comment, Hailey. MRSA is a problem for any hospital patient, especially those in intensive care. We need to develop new antibiotics or we will find ourselves back in the pre-antibiotic era.