Honey Beats Wound Care Gel in Reducing MRSA

Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial Shows Derma Sciences MEDIHONEY(TM) Eradicates MRSA from Chronic Venous Ulcers
70% Elimination of the Deadly Superbug Provides Hope for Global Caregivers

PRINCETON, N.J., June 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Derma Sciences, a provider of advanced wound care products, announced today that its key product, MEDIHONEY(TM) Wound & Burn Dressing with Active Leptospermum Honey, has been found in a large randomized controlled clinical trial to significantly reduce the presence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in chronic wounds. The finding was published in the June 2008 issue of The Journal of Wound Care…

The trial, a 108-patient randomized and controlled clinical trial, looked at venous leg ulcers that had been proven to be non-healing under standard treatment (compression therapy). In the study, half the patients had a common advanced wound care gel added to the standard treatment, and half had Comvita's Active Leptospermum (Manuka) Honey (now marketed under the brand name MEDIHONEY(TM)) added. After four weeks, 70% of the MEDIHONEY treated wounds versus only 16% of the hydrogel treated wounds had MRSA eradicated.

Published in this month's Journal of Wound Care, the research paper "Bacteriological Changes in Sloughy Venous Leg Ulcers Treated with Manuka Honey or Hydrogel: an RCT," was written by lead investigators Georgina T. Gethin and Seamus Cowman, both of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. They concluded that for sloughy venous ulcers, "the efficacy of honey in eliminating MRSA in such wounds is a positive finding that may have implications for wound management and infection control."…