Could Honey Beat MRSA?

Carmel Thomason, Manchester Evening News (UK), 6/18/2007

Professor Molan recently researched an MRSA outbreak in a New Zealand's largest hospital, in which all victims were treated with manuka honey ApiNate Dressing (manuka honey which is impregnated into a calcium alginate fibre dressing). The results were astonishing.

"A couple of years ago, Waikato hospital took up my suggestion to use Manuka honey to try to prevent MRSA infections," he says.

"In one of the wards, where they had a long-history of problems with MRSA, the charge nurse tried putting honey dressings on all patients with wounds when they had an MRSA outbreak. As well as clearing up the wounds which were already infected, there were no cases of cross infections.

"Now, whenever they get a patient with MRSA, rather than putting them in isolation they just put honey dressings on everybody with open wounds and they've never had a case of cross infection since.

"We've since tested manuka honey against MRSA and other superbugs, and they are all very sensitive to it."…

"People don't realise just how much evidence there is and the reason why honey works - it's not just an antibacterial activity - there are other beneficial healing elements, so even if a wound isn't infected it's still the best thing to use to get the most rapid healing without scarring."…

Manuka Honey: What to Look For

In addition to its use in hospitals, manuka honey can also be used in the home, both in its pure form to aid digestion and for first aid as ointments and dressings.

But Prof Molan says to take care when buying products that they contain the unique manuka factor of UMF. "You need to make sure that it says UMF, or non-peroxide activity," he says. The UMF trademark is an attempt to prevent customers being mislead by companies who imply their ordinary manuka honey, which has the same properties as ordinary honey, is as beneficial as Active UMF Manuka honey…

Prof Molan believes that taking a teaspoonful of manuka honey half an hour before meals could help to relieve uncomfortable digestive symptoms, including, indigestion, gastric reflux and diarrhoea, as well as more severe conditions such as gastritis and stomach ulcers…