HERB - honey as medicinal -> Abstracts [long]

[Keith E. Brandt, M.D.]

Here's some abstracts that might be of interest on this topic. I don't have 
access to the full text of these articles.

The bottom line (if you don't want to wade through the abstracts):
Honey is effective for wound healing, heat decreases this ability, and 
botulism probably isn't a risk with raw honey (though the gamma irradiation 
article seems to suggest that it is at least a theoretical concern).

Galen

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J R Soc Med 1999
Jun;92(6):283-5

Antibacterial activity of honey against strains
of Staphylococcus aureus from infected wounds.

Cooper RA, Molan PC, Harding KG

School of Biomedical Sciences, University of
Wales Institute, Cardiff, UK.

The antibacterial action of honey in infected
wounds does not depend wholly on its high
osmolarity. We tested the sensitivity of 58
strains of coagulase-positive Staphylococcus
aureus, isolated from infected wounds, to a
pasture honey and a manuka honey. There was
little variation between the isolates in their
sensitivity to honey: minimum inhibitory
concentrations were all between 2 and 3% (v/v)
for the manuka honey and between 3 and 4% for
the pasture honey. Thus, these honeys would
prevent growth of S. aureus if diluted by body
fluids a further seven-fold to fourteen-fold
beyond the point where their osmolarity ceased
to be completely inhibitory. The antibacterial
action of the pasture honey relied on release
of hydrogen peroxide, which in vivo might be
reduced by catalase activity in tissues or
blood. The action of manuka honey stems partly
from a phytochemical component, so this type of
honey might be more effective in vivo.
Comparative clinical trials with standardized
honeys are needed.

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FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol
1999 Jul;24(3):379-82

Study of the presence of the spores of
Clostridium botulinum in honey in Brazil.

Schocken-Iturrino RP, Carneiro MC, Kato E,
Sorbara JO, Rossi OD, Gerbasi LE

Departamento de Patologia Veterinaria,
Universidade Estadual Paulista-UNESP, Faculdade
de Ciencias Agrarias e Veterinarias de
Jaboticabal, SP, Brazil. pablo at fcav.unesp.br

The isolation of Clostridium botulinum from
honey samples is described. Botulism is
characterized as an intoxication provoked by
ingestion of contaminated foods with this
toxin. Infant botulism happens by the ingestion
of spores of C. botulinum together with food
that in special conditions of the intestinal
tract, such as those present in babies of less
than 1 year old, will allow the germination and
colonization of the intestine with production
and absorption of botulinic toxin. The samples
were subjected to dilution and to a thermal
shock and cultivated in modified CMM (Difco).
Cultures were subjected to Gram smears and
toxicity tests in mice. The toxic cultures were
purified in RFCA (Oxoid) plates and incubated
in anaerobic jars. Positive samples were typed
using the mouse assay neutralization test. From
the 85 honey samples analyzed, six were
positive for C. botulinum (7.06%), and
identified as producers of type A, B, and D
toxins.

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Eur J Med Res 1999 Mar
26;4(3):126-30

Effects of topical honey on post-operative
wound infections due to gram positive and gram
negative bacteria following caesarean sections
and hysterectomies.

Al-Waili NS, Saloom KY

General Private Hospital, Sanaa, Yemen.
Waili2000 at hotmail.com

The possible therapeutic effect of topical
crude undiluted honey in the treatment of
severe acute postoperative wound infections was
studied. Fifty patients having postoperative
wound infections following caesarean sections
or total abdominal hysterectomies with gram
positive or gram negative bacterial infections
were allocated in two groups. Twenty-six
patients (group A) were treated with 12 hourly
application of crude honey and 24 patients
(group B) were treated with local antiseptics:
spirit (70% Ethanol) and povidone-iodine. Both
groups received systemic antibiotics according
to culture and sensitivity. Results showed that
eradication of bacterial infections was
obtained after 6 +/- 1.9 days (mean +/- SD) in
group A and after 14.8 +/- 4.2 days in group B
(p <0.05). Period for antibiotics use was 6.88
+/- 1.7 days in-group A and 15.45 +/- 4. 37
in-group B (p <0.05). Complete wound healing
was evident after 10. 73 +/- 2.5 days in group
A and after 22.04 +/- 7.33 in group B (p <0.
05). Size of postoperative scar was 3.62 +/-
1.4 mm after using topical honey and was 8.62
+/- 3.8 mm after local antiseptics (p <0. 05).
The mean hospital stay was 9.36 +/- 1.8 days in
group A and 19. 91 +/- 7.35 days in group B (p
<0.05). After using honey, 22/26 patients
(84.4%) showed complete wound healing without
wound disruption or need for re-suturing and
only 4 patients showed mild dehiscence. In
group B, 12/24 patients (50%) showed complete
wound healing and 12 patients showed wound
dehiscence, six of them needed re-suturing
under general anesthesia. We concluded that
topical application of crude undiluted honey
could (1) faster eradication of bacterial
infections, (2) reduce period of antibiotic use
and hospital stay, (3) accelerate wound
healing, (4) prevent wound dehiscence and need
for re-suturing and (5) result in minimal scar
formation.

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Zentralbl Veterinarmed A 1998
Apr;45(3):181-8

Effects of topical application of honey on
cutaneous wound healing in rabbits.

Oryan A, Zaker SR

Pathology Department, Veterinary School, Shiraz
University, Iran.

Although it has been known for many centuries
that honey can accelerate wound healing, there
have only been isolated reports of its use in
the healing of burns, ulcers, infected wounds
and open wounds. None of these reports
developed a model to assess the changes in
morphological and biochemical properties due to
topical application of honey on cutaneous
wounds. In the present investigation, efficacy
of honey in the healing of cutaneous wounds of
rabbits was studied on the basis of
histopathological and biochemical changes. For
this reason 40 healthy White New Zealand
rabbits were randomly assigned to four equal
groups. Using aseptic surgical technique, a 3
cm incision was made on the skin of the left
thigh of each rabbit and the wounds of five
rabbits in each group were twice daily treated
with topical application of 5 ml pure unheated
honey. The other half remained as untreated
controls. Rabbits in groups A, B, C and D were
biopsied on days 2, 7, 14 and 21
postoperatively respectively, and biopsies from
the lesions of all groups were collected for
histopathological studies and from groups C and
D for biomechanical evaluations as well.
Treated lesions showed less oedema, fewer
polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cell
infiltration, less necrosis, better wound
contraction, improved epithelialization and
lower glycosaminoglycan and proteoglycan
concentration on days 2 and 7 postoperatively
and better tissue organization and consequently
an improved tissue ultimate strength and yield
strength on days 14 and 21 postoperation. These
findings suggest that honey applied topically
on cutaneous wounds accelerates the healing
processes and appears to have an important
property that makes it ideal as a dressing for
cutaneous wounds.

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Acta Paediatr 1998
Apr;87(4):429-32

Local application of honey for treatment of
neonatal postoperative wound infection.

Vardi A, Barzilay Z, Linder N, Cohen HA, Paret
G, Barzilai A

Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Chaim Sheba
Medical Centre, Tel Hashomer, Israel.

Honey has been described in ancient and modern
medicine as being effective in the healing of
various infected wounds. In this report we
present our experience in nine infants with
large, open, infected wounds that failed to
heal with conventional treatment. Conventional
treatment was defined as having failed if after
 > or = 14 d of intravenous antibiotic and
cleaning the wound with chlorhexidine 0.05% W/V
in aqueous solution and fusidic acid ointment
the wound was still open, oozing pus, and swab
cultures were positive. All infants showed
marked clinical improvement after 5 d of
treatment with topical application of 5-10 ml
of fresh unprocessed honey twice daily. The
wounds were closed, clean and sterile in all
infants after 21 d of honey application. There
were no adverse reactions to the treatment. We
conclude that honey is useful in the treatment
of post-surgical wounds that are infected and
do not respond to conventional systemic and
local antibiotic treatment.

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Burns 1998                `
Mar;24(2):157-61

A prospective randomised clinical and
histological study of superficial burn wound
healing with honey and silver sulfadiazine.

Subrahmanyam M

Department of Surgery, Dr Vaishampayan Memorial
Medical College, Maharashtra, India.

Histological and clinical studies of wound
healing have been made on comparable fresh
partial thickness burns with honey dressing or
silver sulfadiazine (SSD) in two groups of 25
randomly allocated patients. Of the wounds
treated with honey 84 per cent showed
satisfactory epithelialization by the 7th day,
and in 100 per cent of the patients by the 21st
day. In wounds treated with silver
sulfadiazine, epithelialization occurred by the
7th day in 72 per cent of the patients and in
84 per cent of patients by 21 days.
Histological evidence of reparative activity
was seen in 80 per cent of wounds treated with
the honey dressing by the 7th day with minimal
inflammation. Fifty two per cent of the silver
sulfadiazine treated wounds showed reparative
activity with inflammatory changes by the 7th
day. Reparative activity reached 100 per cent
by 21 days with the honey dressing and 84 per
cent with SSD. Thus in honey dressed wounds,
early subsidence of acute inflammatory changes,
better control of infection and quicker wound
healing was observed while in the SSD treated
wounds sustained inflammatory reaction was
noted even on epithelialization.

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Infection 1998
Jan-Feb;26(1):26-31

Causes of the antimicrobial activity of honey.

Wahdan HA

Food Microbiology Laboratory, Cairo, Egypt.

The present study was performed to clarify the
possible causes of the antimicrobial activity
of honey. A sugar solution resembling honey in
its high sugar content was made. The
antimicrobial activities of both honey and this
solution towards 21 types of bacteria and two
types of fungi were examined. The results
achieved by both were compared. The difference
between them indicated the presence of
antimicrobial substance(s) in honey. The kinds
of antimicrobial substances (inhibines) in
honey are discussed. Hydrogen peroxide is not
the only inhibine in honey. In fact, inhibines
in honey include many other substances. Two
important classes of these inhibines are the
flavonoids and the phenolic acids. Flavonoids
have often been extracted from honey
previously. In this study two phenolic acids
(caffeic acid and ferulic acid) were extracted
from honey for the first time.

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J Pharm Pharmacol 1996
Nov;48(11):1206-9

The effect of gamma-irradiation on the
antibacterial activity of honey.

Molan PC, Allen KL

Department of Biological Sciences, University
of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.

There is increasing usage of honey as a
dressing on infected wounds, burns and ulcers,
but there is some concern that there may be a
risk of wound botulism from the clostridial
spores sometimes found in honey. It is
well-established that the antibacterial
activity is heat-labile so would be destroyed
if honey were sterilized by autoclaving, but
the effect of gamma-irradiation on the
antibacterial activity of honey is not known.
Therefore an investigation was carried out to
assess the effect on the antibacterial activity
of honey when the honey was subjected to a
commercial sterilization procedure using
gamma-irradiation (25 kGy). Two honeys with
antibacterial activity due to
enzymically-generated hydrogen peroxide and
three manuka honeys with non-peroxide
antibacterial activity were investigated. The
honeys were tested against Staphylococcus
aureus in an agar well diffusion assay. There
was no significant change found in either type
of antibacterial activity resulting from this
form of sterilization of honey, even when the
radiation was doubled (to 50 kGy). Testing of
honey seeded with spores of Clostridium
perfringens and C. tetani (10000 and 1000
spores g-1 of honey, respectively) showed that
25 kGy of gamma-irradiation was sufficient to
achieve sterility.

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Int J Food Microbiol 1996
Aug;31(1-3):1-26

Microorganisms in honey.

Snowdon JA, Cliver DO

National Honey Board, Longmont, CO 80501, USA.

Knowledge of the moisture and temperature
conditions influencing growth of microorganisms
in honey has long been used to control the
spoilage of honey. However, the need for
additional microbiological data on honey will
increase as new technologies for, and uses of
honey develop. Microorganisms in honey may
influence quality or safety. Due to the natural
properties of honey and control measures in the
honey industry, honey is a product with minimal
types and levels of microbes. Microbes of
concern in post-harvest handling are those that
are commonly found in honey (i.e., yeasts and
spore-forming bacteria), those that indicate
the sanitary or commercial quality of honey
(i.e., coliforms and yeasts), and those that
under certain conditions could cause human
illness. Primary sources of microbial
contamination are likely to include pollen, the
digestive tracts of honey bees, dust, air,
earth and nectar, sources which are very
difficult to control. The same secondary
(after-harvest) sources that influence any food
product are also sources of contamination for
honey. These include air, food handlers,
cross-contamination, equipment and buildings.
Secondary sources of contamination are
controlled by good manufacturing practices. The
microbes of concern in honey are primarily
yeasts and spore-forming bacteria. Total plate
counts from honey samples can vary from zero to
tens of thousands per gram for no apparent
reason. Most samples of honey contain
detectable levels of yeasts. Although yeast
counts in many honey samples are below 100
colony forming units per gram (cfu/g), yeasts
can grow in honey to very high numbers.
Standard industry practices control yeast
growth. Bacterial spores, particularly those in
the Bacillus genus, are regularly found in
honey. The spores of C. botulinum are found in
a fraction of the honey samples tested-normally
at low levels. No vegetative forms of
disease-causing bacterial species have been
found in honey. Bacteria do not replicate in
honey and as such high numbers of vegetative
bacteria could indicate recent contamination
from a secondary source. Certain vegetative
microbes can survive in honey, at cool
temperatures, for several years. However, honey
has anti-microbial properties that discourage
the growth or persistence of many
microorganisms. Typically, honey can be
expected to contain low numbers and a limited
variety of microbes. A routine microbiological
examination of honey might include several
different assays. A standard plate count
provides general information. Specialized
tests, such as a count of yeasts and an assay
for bacterial spore-formers, may also be
useful. An indicator of sanitary quality as
provided by coliform counts might be included.
Additional tests, to explain unusually high
counts or address a certain problem, may be
needed. The use of honey in products that
receive no or limited heat treatment may
require additional tests. More information on
the source and control of microbes in honey is
needed to answer the concerns currently facing
the industry.

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