posted
Honey-drenched dressings touted as the bee's knees for wounds
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 | 12:30 PM ET The Associated Press
Amid growing concern over drug-resistant superbugs and nonhealing wounds that endanger diabetes patients, nature's original antibiotic -- honey -- is making a comeback.
Honey dressings and gels, as well as tubes of manuka honey, have been gaining in popularity overseas, fuelled by scientific reports on their medical benefits and occasional news accounts of the dramatic recovery of a patient with a longtime wound that suddenly healed.
More than 4,000 years after Egyptians began applying honey to wounds, Derma Sciences Inc., a New Jersey company that makes medicated and other advanced wound-care products, began selling the first honey-based dressing this fall after it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Called Medihoney, it is made from a highly absorbent seaweed-based material, saturated with manuka honey, a particularly potent type that experts say kills germs and speeds healing. Also called Leptospermum honey, manuka honey comes from hives of bees that collect nectar from manuka and jelly bushes in Australia and New Zealand.
Derma Sciences now sells two Medihoney dressings to hospitals, clinics and doctors in North and South America under a deal with supplier Comvita LP of New Zealand. Derma Sciences hopes to have its dressings in U.S. drugstores in the next six months, followed by adhesive strips.
Comvita, which controls about 75 per cent of the world's manuka honey supply, sells similar products under its own name in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, where such products have been popular for over a decade.
"The reason that Medihoney is so exciting is that antibiotics are becoming ineffective at fighting pathogens," said Derma Sciences CEO Ed Quilty.
'Used on wounds where nothing else will work' Dr. Robert Frykberg, chief of podiatry at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Phoenix, said the Medihoney product has worked on about half the patients with diabetic foot ulcers who have used it.
He said the Medihoney dressing can also prevent the dangerous drug-resistant staph infection known as MRSA from infecting open wounds.
"It's been used on wounds where nothing else will work," said biochemist Peter Molan, a professor at the University of Waikato in New Zealand who has researched honey and other natural antibiotics for 25 years.
He's found manuka honey can kill the toughest bacteria even when diluted 10 times and recommends it especially for people with weak immune systems.
"There's more evidence, clinical evidence, by far for honey in wound treatment than for any of the pharmaceutical products" for infection, Molan said. However, it won't work once an infection gets in the blood. "It's not a miracle."
Iraqi families preferred Medihoney: U.S. doctor Since receiving FDA approval, Medihoney has brought in sales of $150,000 US in 10 weeks and Quilty plans to nearly double his 15-person sales force in 2008 thanks to the two new Medihoney products.
Some U.S. hospitals and wound-care clinics are already using Medihoney dressings to treat patients with stubborn, infected wounds from injuries or surgical incisions and nonhealing pressure ulcers on diabetics' feet, which too often lead to amputations.
Dr. Craig Lambrecht, a North Dakota emergency physician, started using a paste version of Medihoney while serving with the National Guard in Iraq last winter.
At a military clinic for Iraqi children, he used it on patients with severe burns from cooking fuels, open fires and explosions. He said Iraqi families soon preferred the honey over other treatments because it was natural and because the honey dressings don't need to be changed as often as traditional ones. The children also healed more quickly and with less complications, he said.
Posts: 590 | From Canada | Registered: Oct 2007
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Truthfinder
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8512
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Excellent, Looking! I keep several jars of raw, local honey on hand. Now I remember why.
I wonder if this product (or raw honey) would be at all helpful if smeared on tick or other bug bites?
Hmmm, it might prevent an EM rash, but that wouldn't necessarily be a good thing if some duck thinks a rash is the only way to diagnose Lyme....
-------------------- Tracy .... Prayers for the Lyme Community - every day at 6 p.m. Pacific Time and 9 p.m. Eastern Time � just take a few moments to say a prayer wherever you are�. Posts: 2966 | From Colorado | Registered: Dec 2005
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CaliforniaLyme
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 7136
posted
Yay Honey*))*!! I visit our local apiary with my girls and we have 3 kinds of local honey in our house. It is a treat. We love honey!!!
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
For applicaations of honey bee products; APITHERAPY.ORG OR COM , and similar sites.
-------------------- pingpong Posts: 361 | From At the Pingpong Tournament | Registered: Oct 2007
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map1131
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Member # 2022
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There's a honey selling farm within 1/2 mile of my home. I just remembered Dr C used to have write-ups about fresh made honey & combs. That's all I remember, now where's that Dr C write up file?????
Interesting.
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6478 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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groovy2
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6304
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Hi All
Honey has anti Bacterial properties -
thats why honey dose not spoil -
To bad all the bees are getting zapped by what ever is going on -- Jay --
Posts: 2999 | From Austin tx USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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AliG
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9734
posted
One thing I never really understood, you're not supposed to give honey to a child under 1 yr of age because they can get salmonella(?). I've always heard about the antibacterial properties of honey so I'm not sure how that works.
-------------------- Note: I'm NOT a medical professional. The information I share is from my own personal research and experience. Please do not construe anything I share as medical advice, which should only be obtained from a licensed medical practitioner. Posts: 4881 | From Middlesex County, NJ | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
Apparently it's botulism spores that are the problem with honey.
**** Honey Should Not Be Given To Babies:
DEAR DR.PAUL: I have heard that giving babies honey is dangerous. Is this true and if so why?
DR.PAUL ANSWERS: This is a common question. Although many people seem to know that there is some problem with giving honey to young babies they do not know exactly what the problem is.
Honey itself is a natural product that is generally thought to be very healthy for people. However, there have been some cases of a very serious disease that had been traced to honey.
This is "infant botulism", which is a type of food poisoning caused by a bacteria called Clostridium botulinum. According to Health Canada, only 7 cases of infant botulism have been seen in Canada since 1979.
In three of the seven cases the child had been given honey. In the USA there are about 70 to 90 cases of infant botulism yearly (not necessarily all due to honey).
This bacteria forms spores which when swallowed by a baby will start to produce a poisonous toxin in the baby's intestines. This toxin, known as botulin causes the various muscles in a baby to be paralyzed.
The symptoms then develop because of this paralysis including, poor sucking, weak cry, irritability, lack of facial expression (i.e. cannot smile because the facial muscles are paralyzed).
The most dangerous part of this infection is that if the diaphragm, our main breathing muscle, becomes paralyzed, than the baby will have trouble breathing.
The treatment is to hospitalize the affected babies and to help them breathe and eat properly. This "supportive treatment" may be required for a few days or up to even a few weeks until all of the toxin has left the body.
Most babies do recover completely and this, without any antibiotics or specific antidote or antitoxin treatment.
Why is honey a source of botulism?
It is not very well understood because we know that most honey produced in North America is not contaminated with the botulism bacteria.
Experts think that the honey gets contaminated by the spores from the dirt. The bees pick up these spores from the soil and then bring it to the hive, contaminating the honey that they produce.
How can infantile botulism be prevented?
Although infant botulism is very rare, it is better to be safe and not take chances. For this reason, parents and caretakers should not give honey to babies less than one year of age.
Also honey should never be added to baby food nor placed on a baby's pacifier. Let me list the symptoms of infantile botulism:
Baby is too weak to cry or suck as usual
Baby does not have any bowel movements and has weak muscles
The baby's neck is quite week and so the head is wobbly
The arms and legs are weak
Baby is unable to swallow If your baby develops any of these symptoms, call your doctor.
On a final note, light or dark corn syrup is often used to help babies with constipation. The American Academy of Pediatrics warns that due to the potential theoretical risk of botulinum contamination babies should also not be given corn syrup that has not been pasteurized(sterilized) or declared "botulism spore free".
Posts: 590 | From Canada | Registered: Oct 2007
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