Sticky treatment for staph infections
By Brian Vastag
From Toronto, at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology
Honey made by bees pollinating a New Zealand bush can gum up bacteria, offering a potential new therapy for difficult-to-treat infections.
A scourge of hospitals, the pathogen called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus defies most antibiotics. But a handful of case reports notes that slathering manuka-bush honey on wound dressings seems to reverse staph infection.
The edible honey failed to sell in New Zealand because of its bitter taste, but for hospitals, it may be just what the doctor ordered.