Honey and MRSA

Before my blogging days, I sent out occasional newsletters to my patients about pertinent health issues. Here's one from a few years ago, responding to a serious issue at the time: an increase in the cases of MRSA, or "methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus." This newsletter/blog post also dovetails with another one I wrote about the use of honey to treat skin infections.

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Recently, there have been a number of articles in the media reflecting one of the biggest dangers to public health nowadays: antibiotic-resistant skin infections. Specifically, there is a strain of a bacterium called Staphylococcus aureus that has become resistant to one of the more powerful antibiotics known, methicillin. As the name implies, methicillin is indeed related to penicillin. However, methicillin is seldom used nowadays for treatment; instead, it is used to determine whether or not an organism can be eliminated by any form of penicillin. So for all intents and purposes, this strain, called “methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus,” or MRSA, is resistant to all forms of penicillin.

A little background on this organism: Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium which sometimes causes a skin condition called “bullous impetigo.” This infection is easy to identify by blisters that cause a honey-colored crust on the surface of the skin when popped. Sometimes, Staphylococcus aureus can take hold in a skin wound, also creating this honey-colored crust. Usually, the infection is caught early, treated effectively, and remains at the level of the skin. But if it is not treated effectively, it can migrate through the body and cause a host of dangerous conditions, including pneumonia, lung abscesses, sepsis (i.e., blood poisoning), meningitis, brain abscesses, endocarditis (inflammation of the lining of the heart chambers) and kidney infections – major threats to health and life. According to an article published in the October 17th, 2007 edition of Journal of the American Medical Association, MRSA caused a higher death rate in 2005 than AIDS; it caused over 18,000 deaths out of 95,000 documented cases. Lately, MRSA seems to be concentrated in high schools and hospitals, and is particularly prevalent among high school athletes, African Americans, and the elderly.

Raw honey could be a powerful weapon in the battle against MRSA. It has been used successfully to treat skin infections that have been resistant to many other antibiotics. The most recent study, published in the Journal of Wound Care in September 2007, documented seven patients who had experienced full healing from the use of topical honey where antibiotics had failed to control their MRSA infections. The type of honey used in this study is called Manuka honey, found in New Zealand. Most honey has an enzyme called glucose oxidase which, when exposed to wounded skin, begins to release hydrogen peroxide at levels strong enough to kill bacteria, but not so strong that tissue is damaged. Manuka Honey has a second antibiotic component, simply called UMF or Unique Manuka Factor. Hospitals around the world are beginning to recognize the power of Manuka honey and use it in their wound dressings.

What does this mean for you and your loved ones? Simply enough, if you do suffer a skin wound of some sort, put raw honey over the wound, and bandage it up. Since most honey already has glucose oxidase in it, it has significant natural antibiotic properties. Using honey also will decrease the need for pharmaceutical antibiotics, and simply relies on the wisdom and healing powers of nature…the best kind available to us!

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Do you have health issues that aren't being adequately addressed by conventional medicine? Naturopathic care may be the answer you're looking for. Visit my website for more information about naturopathic medicine, and begin your journey toward optimal health!

Honey for Wound Healing

It may come as a surprise that I would advocate something as simple and inexpensive as honey. But the health benefits of honey are astounding, particularly when it comes to healing the skin. Honey is a skin infection’s worst enemy, and healthy skin’s best friend. It is powerfully antibacterial and antifungal, yet moisturizing and soothing to wounds.

In 2005, just as I had ended chiropractic school and was ready to fly back to Denver, I sliced my hand on a sharp wicker basket, and the wound was terrible. I put bandages and some Neosporin on it, but it didn’t seem to heal all that quickly. A few days later, while at a naturopathic convention in Arizona, I recalled reading that honey was an exceptional wound healer, so I tried putting some on a bandage over my wound before bed. I was astounded at how much better my hand looked and felt when I woke up – it was probably 75% better overnight! Since then, I’ve seldom overlooked honey’s role in healing damaged or infected skin.

The antimicrobial effects of honey have been tested and proven many times. In the 1930s, a bacteriologist by the name of Dr. W.G. Sackett from Fort Collins, Colorado, wanted to prove that honey actually harbored disease, so he placed various bacteria on cultures of honey. The results shocked him. Bacteria that caused typhoid fever, dysentery, chronic pneumonia, peritonitis, pleuritis, and suppurating abscesses all were killed within a few days – and often within a few hours. Since then, studies done as recently as 2005 have shown that honey also inhibits the growth of E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans – three organisms that have been plaguing the general population (and health care facilities in particular) tremendously in recent years. It’s exciting to think that honey could potentially be used to treat Staphylococcus aureus infections that are resistant to powerful antibiotics such as methicillin and vancomycin.

Honey has been documented in medical journals as an effective treatment for diabetic and venous ulcers, even when all other measures (i.e., antibiotics) fail to bring them under control. A 2003 study found that a mixture of equal parts honey, beeswax, and olive oil is effective in reducing the itchiness, redness, and scaling associated with eczema and psoriasis. And a pilot study completed in 2005 reported that this same mixture is effective in reducing the bleeding, itching, and pain associated with hemorrhoids and anal fissures.

Of course, as a practitioner of natural medicine, I strongly advocate the use of honey in helping skin wounds and even conditions like eczema and psoriasis to heal. The advantages are numerous: It’s natural, safe, inexpensive, readily available, painless, soothing, and effective. And perhaps most importantly – especially from a public health perspective – it does not contribute to antibiotic-resistant organisms.

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Do you have health issues that aren't being adequately addressed by conventional medicine? Naturopathic care may be the answer you're looking for. Visit my website for more information about naturopathic medicine, and begin your journey toward optimal health!