Case Study

A horse had a wound on its leg that had defied all earlier attempts at treatment. This is where bee's and their honey came to the rescue. A new remedy was concocted that comprised of 13 lactic acid bacteria. They took the bacteria from the stomachs of honey bees. They then mixed it with processed honey and a little water and sugar. This blend was then applied to the wound and cured what many thought was becoming an incurable sore. We're now hearing more and more accounts of how people are finding honey to be a natural, effective antibiotic.

My Notes

It's been a long time since scientists have found any new antibiotics. But now new research shows for the first time how the honey of bees is able to kill harmful bacteria. More specifically, the research talks of a special protein that bees add to the honey. They call this protein defensin-1. The hope is that it we can use this in the future to treat burns and skin infections. The bigger dream is to further develop new drugs that can combat antibiotic-resistant infections.

It was in the July 2010 print edition of the FASEB Journal where news broke out about honey as an antibiotic. The piece explains how bee's honey is able to kill bacteria.

The World Needs New Antibiotics

It's no secret that the world desperately needs new antibiotics. We need them to offset the growing threat of bacteria developing resistance to drug treatment. One study found how 13 bacteria strains living in honeybees’ stomachs can help. These bacteria can reduce the growth of drug-resistant bacteria, such as MRSA. At least this was the case in laboratory trials.

In these trials, researchers examined specific antibiotic-resistant bacteria and yeast. These are the ones that can infect human wounds such as types of E. coli and MRSA. The good news was that each of these was susceptible to some of the 13 honeybee lactic acid bacteria (LAB). This LAB proved most effective when used together.

What the researchers did not test was whether this difference was likely to be due to chance. Because of that, no real solid conclusions can be taken from this early research. Another discovery was that each LAB produced different levels of toxic substances. It may be the case that these are what were responsible for killing the bacteria.

Using bees and bee's honey as a new antibiotic for humans is a potentially exciting find. Although further research has to be carried out, the early studies show real promise.

Researchers from Lund University and Sophiahemmet University in Sweden carried out the study.

Further reading of interest: Honey as an antibiotic.
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
July 12, 2010

Summary

Antibiotic resistance is becoming a huge problem of modern times. What this means is that our ability to combat infections is weakening. Because of this, there is vast amount of interest within the scientific community to find new ways to combat bacteria. Research into the 13 honeybee lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is ongoing. So far the research is inconclusive, but it's also showing great promise.