Investigating the Ability of Honey to Inhibit Bacterial Biofilms Found in Chronic Wounds

Funding: 2009: $52,500
2010: $105,000
2011: $105,000
2012: $52,500

Project Member(s): Harry, E., Whitchurch, C.

Funding or Partner Organisation: Australian Research Council (ARC Linkage Projects)
Comvita New Zealand LTD

Start year: 2010

Summary: Chronic (non-healing) wounds are a serious health problem in Australia. One quarter of our institutionalized aged population have pressure ulcers. The difficulty in treating these wounds is that most contain communities of bacteria, called biofilms, that are not killed by conventional antibiotics. Special honeys from Australia and NZ that are effective in chronic wound treatment can eradicate these biofilms. This project will identify the components in honey that do this and determine how they do it, to provide a more effective chronic wound treatment. It will decrease the prevalence of these wounds in Australia and the associated personal trauma and health costs.

Publications:

Lu, J, Cokcetin, NN, Burke, CM, Turnbull, L, Liu, M, Carter, DA, Whitchurch, CB & Harry, EJ 2019, 'Honey can inhibit and eliminate biofilms produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa', Scientific Reports, vol. 9, no. 1.
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Liu, M, Lu, J, Mueller, P, Turnbull, L, Burke, CM, Schlothauer, RC, Carter, DA, Whitchurch, CB & Harry, EJ 2015, 'Antibiotic-specific differences in the response of Staphylococcus aureus to treatment with antimicrobiala combined with manuka honey', Frontiers in Microbiology, vol. 5, pp. 1-9.
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Keywords: microbiology, bacteria, biofilms, honey,

FOR Codes: Microbial Genetics, Bacteriology, Preventive Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Pedagogy, Bacteriology , Microbial genetics , Teaching and curriculum, Clinical health, Public health (excl. specific population health)