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Local application of honey for treatment of neonatal postoperative wound infection
A Vardi1, Z Barzilay, N Linder
1Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Chaim Sheba Medical Centre, Tel Hashomer, Israel.
Insights
Fresh unprocessed honey effectively healed infected wounds in nine infants when conventional treatments failed. This natural remedy promoted wound closure and sterility within 21 days without adverse effects.
Area of Science:
- Wound Healing Research
- Infectious Disease Management
- Natural Product Therapeutics
Background:
- Honey possesses documented historical and contemporary medicinal properties for wound care.
- Infected wounds in infants often present challenges to conventional treatment protocols.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of fresh unprocessed honey in treating infected wounds in infants that were refractory to conventional therapies.
- To assess the safety and healing time associated with honey application in this patient cohort.
Main Methods:
- Nine infants with large, open, infected wounds failing conventional treatment (>14 days antibiotics, chlorhexidine, fusidic acid) were enrolled.
- Topical application of 5-10 ml fresh unprocessed honey twice daily was administered.
- Wound status, pus presence, and microbial cultures were monitored throughout the treatment period.
Main Results:
- All nine infants demonstrated significant clinical improvement within 5 days of honey treatment.
- Wounds became closed, clean, and sterile in all infants after 21 days of honey application.
- No adverse reactions were reported during the honey treatment regimen.
Conclusions:
- Fresh unprocessed honey is a viable and effective treatment for infected post-surgical wounds in infants unresponsive to conventional antibiotics.
- Honey application offers a safe and beneficial alternative for managing complex wound infections in pediatric patients.
Abstract:
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.