Bees at work on white manuka flowers.
Picture courtesy Comvita Ltd
Manuka honey from New Zealand is already established as a valuable antibacterial agent, particularly for treating slow-healing wounds. Now scientists will test the potential of honey derived from related trees in Australia to meet the increasing worldwide demand for medical honey.
"Antibiotic resistance is an urgent world health problem," said project leader Professor Liz Harry from UTS's ithree institute. "In the face of the declining power of antibiotics, honey is increasingly being used as a gel or dressing to treat chronic (slow-healing) wounds.
"Honey has several properties that make it ideal as a treatment for chronic wounds: it has potent antibacterial activity and bacteria don't appear to become resistant to it. This makes sense since honey has evolved for millions of years to resist spoiling – it is the only food that can't be spoiled.
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