This is some really good news for a change! Then we have to see if it goes public or if the big reptile companies will put it away, so that they can sell whatever THEY invested in first. Australian researchers have been astonished to discover a “cure-all” right under their noses a honey ( Manuka Honey ) sold in health food shops as a natural medicine. Far from being an obscure health food with dubious healing qualities, new research has shown the honey kills every type of bacteria scientists have thrown at it, including the antibiotic-resistant “super-bugs” plaguing hospitals and killing patients around the world. Some bacteria have become resistant to every commonly prescribed antibacterial drug. But scientists found that Manuka honey, as it is known in New Zealand, or jelly bush honey, as it is known in Australia, killed every bacteria or pathogen it was tested on. It is applied externally and acts on skin infections, bites and cuts.
The honey is distinctive in that it comes only from bees feeding off tea trees native to Australia and New Zealand, said Dee Carter, from the University of Sydney’s School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences. The findings are likely to have a major impact on modern medicine and could lead to a range of honey-based products to replace antibiotic and antiseptic creams. Professor Carter’s two sons, Marty, 8 and Nicky, 6, think it’s funny the way their mother puts honey on their sores. But she swears by it, telling stories of how quickly it cures any infection.
The curative properties of various types of honey have been known to indigenous cultures for thousands of years, and dressing wounds with honey was common before the advent of antibiotics.
“Honey sounds very homey and unscientific, which is why we needed the science to validate the claims made for it,” she said. “Most bacteria that cause infections in hospitals are resistant to at least one antibiotic, and there is an urgent need for new ways to treat and control surface infections,” Professor Carter said. “New antibiotics tend to have short shelf lives, as the bacteria they attack quickly become resistant. Many large pharmaceutical companies have abandoned antibiotic production because of the difficulty of recovering costs. Developing effective alternatives could therefore save many lives.”
Professor Carter said the fascinating thing was that none of the bacteria researchers used to test the honey, including super-bugs such as flesh-eating bacteria, built up any immunity. She said a compound in the honey called methylglyoxal — toxic on its own — combined in unknown ways with other unidentified compounds in the honey to cause “multi-system failure” in the bacteria. The results of the research project are published in this month’s European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
Methylglyoxal—A Potential Risk Factor of Manuka Honey in Healing of Diabetic Ulcers? link
The Southern Poverty Law Center on Wednesday accused South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley of appointing a white supremacist to her steering committee. In February, the Republican governor announced she had formed the committee to explore her re-election options. Roan Garcia-Quintana of Greenville was listed as one of the 164 co-chairs. The Anti-Defamation League […]
A high-powered commission said Wednesday that intellectual property theft was costing the United States the equivalent of all its exports to Asia and urged a tougher approach to China. The 11-month study led by high-ranking former US officials said that theft of software and other US-developed products was costing the US economy more than $300 billion each y […]
Iran could face tightened sanctions within months after a US congressional panel Wednesday adopted a measure targeting the nation’s auto and mining industries as well as its foreign currency reserves. The House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act, which would extend existing sanctions to the auto and mining sectors an […]
The United States formally said for the first time on Wednesday that it had killed radical Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and three other US citizens in anti-terror strikes abroad. The acknowledgement that Washington targeted Awlaki in Yemen in September 2011 and that the three others were not directly targeted, but were also killed, came on the eve […]
Right to Life president Barbara Listing said Wednesday that women should purchase additional health insurance if they feared being raped, because the sexual crime was like a car accident. “Nobody plans to have an accident in a car accident, nobody plans to have their homes flooded. You have to buy extra insurance for those,” she told reporters. Michigan’s Bo […]
A potentially paranormal disturbance has been filmed on CCTV at the Wellington Indoor Market. The footage recorded at the building in Shropshire appea...
Claims that TV images show Pope Francis performing an exorcism have been denied by the Vatican. The video was recorded during Sunday mass and showed a...
Croatian researchers have been training honeybees to hunt down the location of unexploded landmines. More than 750 square kilometers of uncleared mine...
The largest Burmese python ever discovered in Florida has been captured and killed in the Everglades. Considered an invasive species, pythons have bee...
A team of scientists has been attempting to determine why penguins are unable to take to the skies. The answer lies in the birds' ability to swim, wha...
A plant first used over 30,000 years ago could prove vital in the fight against resistant infections. In an age where ever more sophisticated medicine...
The discovery of ancient coins on an uninhabited Australian island could soon rewrite the history books. Australian soldier Maurie Isenberg first came...
An amazing glow-in-the-dark cockroach, a harp-shaped carnivorous sponge and the smallest vertebrate on Earth are just three of the newly discovered top 10 species selected by a global committee of taxonomists.
Researchers have created a new type of transparent electrode that might find uses in solar cells, flexible displays for computers and consumer electronics and future "optoelectronic" circuits for sensors and information processing.
Malaria-carrying mosquitoes appear to be manipulated by the parasites they carry, but this manipulation may simply be part of the mosquitoes' immune response, according to entomologists.
Saturn's moon Titan might be in for some wild weather as it heads into its spring and summer, if two new models are correct. Scientists think that as the seasons change in Titan's northern hemisphere, waves could ripple across the moon's hydrocarbon seas, and hurricanes could begin to swirl over these areas, too. The model predicting waves tri […]
Exactly 50 years after the US-American meteorologist Edward Lorenz discovered chaos (remember the "butterfly effect?") the topic is still as fascinating as ever. A new visualization technique helps to make chaos visible to the naked eye. The method allows for the intuitive interpretation of chaotic or nearly chaotic phenomena, and thus makes the fa […]
Reblogged this on Hi From Down Under.