Honey-Based Dressing: ‘Possible MRSA Breakthrough’

By Gary Culliton, Irish Medical News, 8/24/2007

An Irish study examining the use of honey in the dressing of wounds points to a possibly significant breakthrough in the battle against the hospital superbug, MRSA. Preliminary results of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) using Active Manuka honey in the treatment of chronic wounds, were presented at the European Wound Management Association’s annual conference held in Glasgow by the study’s primary investigator, Ms Georgina Gethin, recently. Ms Gethin is a clinical nurse specialist in Sligo General Hospital and a Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland Research Fellow…

The effects of Active Manuka honey in the cleansing (debridement) and healing rates of wounds, as well as in antimicrobial activity, were compared to the effects of a standard hydrogel, both under compression, over a 12-week period. After the treatment period, it was determined that the group treated with honey experienced a higher rate of debridement (removal of dead, damaged, or infected tissue), significantly faster healing and reduced infection than in the group treated with the standard gel. Particularly striking in the study, was the information about effectiveness of Active Manuka Honey on wounds with a Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

“Of 10 wounds that were affected with MRSA at the start of the study, seven of the wounds showed no presence of the bacteria after just four weeks of treatment with Manuka honey,” said Ms Gethin…