Scottish researchers have some sweet news in the field of
equine wound healing: Honey’s all the buzz in natural wound remedies, and
according to recent research, it works with horses, too. Better yet, it’s not
just the tried-and-true manuka honey that works, but a wide variety of honeys
from different parts of the world…
Pollock and colleagues investigated the effects of 28
different honeys—the majority of which were purchased at a local supermarket—on
infectious agents recovered from equine wounds. They first tested the honeys
for the presence of infectious agents of their own. They then tested those
considered “uncontaminated” in a laboratory on 10 different bacteria isolates
from equine wounds.
As it turned out, most of the honeys—18 of them—were already
contaminated with infectious agents, including Bacillus spp, Proteus spp, an
unidentified Enterobacteriaceae organism, and an unidentified fungus, Pollock
said. The other honeys—local varieties primarily from Scotland and North
Africa, as well as some “medicinal” manuka honeys packaged as veterinary ointments—were
all found to be effective in killing all 10 of the tested bacteria, he said.
That list of bacteria even included stubborn pathogens such as
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus…
Interestingly, the “medicinal” honeys weren't necessarily the
most effective, Pollock added. In fact, the best performance came from Scottish
heather honey, which inhibited the growth of all 10 bacterial isolates at very
low concentrations (ranging from only 2-6%)…
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