Saturday, March 16, 2013
MANUKA HONEY COULD BE THE ANSWER TO KILLING SUPERBUGS – Honey has been used for centuries as a natural way to heal wounds and fight off bacteria and now scientists believe that Manuka Honey could in fact be the answer to killing off superbugs such as MRSA.
A number of tests have been undertaken to determine exactly what this wonder honey is capable of and in recent tests it clearly showed that not only could it fight superbugs but it can also prevent bacteria from becoming resistant to antibiotics.
The medical profession is fully aware that many forms of bacteria and bugs are becoming resistant to the current antibiotics that are available and without intervention and successfully finding an alternative to kill these; our hospitals could in fact be the last place to put a sick or dying person.
At the University of Technology Sidney, in Australia, a number of tests have been carried out using Manuka, Kanuka and Clover Honey in order to find a way of beating bacteria in skin wounds and found that these do in fact inhibit the growth of bacteria.
Scientist discovered that by combining Manuka Honey with common antibiotics the results were that the spread of bacteria in wounds was significantly reduced. The honey, Comvita, is a medical grade Manuka honey which prevents the bugs from developing any type of resistance to the antibiotics.
It must be noted that you cannot simply buy honey at your local supermarket and use it on open wounds. This is a very special medical grade honey that must be properly formulated in order for it to be effective.
It is widely known that our current overuse of antibiotics has resulted in a number of bacteria and superbugs developing immunity from them. The fear is that as we continue to overuse antibiotics these will becoming increasingly ineffective against bacteria and therefore scientists are in a race against time to find a solution that could prevent this immunity.
Nature is a wonderful thing and it can be deadly. Everything we see, touch or taste has millions of micro-organisms attached to them; some harmful and some that are beneficial. It certainly never ceases to amaze me that Mother Nature appears to want to heal and kill us at the same time and yet there are those who continuously find new ways to use Mother Nature, and her bounty, to our advantage.
