A Review on the Use of Honey in the Treatment of Wound Infection

Honey is a sweet substance made by bees using nectar from flowers. Honey is of different types, but the Apis mellifera is the one most commonly used, consumed by people and collected by bee keepers. The flower from which bees gather nectar, determines the colour, chemical composition, flavour and aroma of the honey. The use of honey in folk medicine has been practiced since ancient times and has more recently been rediscovered by medical researchers for its use in dressing acute and chronic wounds, particularly where conventional modern therapeutic agents have failed. The wound healing property of honey is due to its antibacterial activity; the ability to maintain a moist wound condition, the high sugar content which hinders microbial growth, the high viscosity which help in providing a protective barrier to prevent infection, the immunomodulatory property which helps in wound repair, the enzymatic production of hydrogen peroxide and the high osmolarity which draws fluid out of the wound bed to enable an outflow of lymph, as occurs with negative pressure wound therapy. Different scientists reported honey, as having one of the most powerful inhibitory effect with regard to sixty species of bacteria. Although the inhibitory activity of honey has been established against wide spectrum of bacteria, it differs depending on the type of honey. Under different concentrations, honey has been reported to be active against a number of bacterial pathogens such as (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella, Salmonella, Shigella, Enterobacter and Coagulase positive/ negative Staphylococcus etc.) isolated from wounds.