Research claims manuka honey could help to clear deadly lung infection

A potential new treatment combining natural manuka honey with a widely used drug has been developed by scientists at Aston University to treat a potentially lethal lung infection and greatly reduce side effects of one of the current drugs used for its treatment.

The findings, which are published in the journal Microbiology, show that the scientists in the Mycobacterial Research Group in the College of Health and Life Sciences at Aston University were able to combine manuka honey and the drug amikacin in a lab-based nebulisation formulation to treat the harmful bacterial lung infection Mycobacterium abscessus.

Mycobacterium abscessus is a bacterial pathogen from the same family that causes tuberculosis, but this bug differs by causing serious lung infections in people (particularly children).

Manuka honey is long known to have wide ranging medicinal properties, but more recently has been identified for its broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. Scientists have now found that manuka honey has the potential to kill a number of drug resistant bacterial infections such as Mycobacterium abscessus - which usually affects patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) or bronchiectasis.

According to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, CF is a genetic condition affecting around 10,800 people - one in every 2,500 babies born in the UK -and there are more than 100,000 people with the condition worldwide.

In the study, the researchers used samples of the bacteria Mycobacterium abscessus taken from 16 infected CF patients. They then tested the antibiotic amikacin, combined with manuka honey to discover what dosage was required to kill the bacteria.

Currently, patients are given a cocktail of antibiotics, consisting of 12 months or more of antimicrobial chemotherapy and often doesn 't result in a cure.

The dosage of amikacin usually used on a patient to kill the infection is 16 micrograms per millilitre.

But the researchers found that the new combination using manuka honey, required a dosage of just two micrograms per millilitre of amikacin - resulting in a one eighth reduction in the dosage of the drug.

Until now Mycobacterium abscessus has been virtually impossible to eradicate in people with cystic fibrosis. It can also be deadly if the patient requires a lung transplant because they are not eligible for surgery if the infection is present.

Lead author and PhD researcher Victoria Nolan said: “So far, the treatment of Mycobacterium abscessus pulmonary infections can be problematic due to its drug resistant nature. The variety of antibiotics required to combat infection result in severe side effects.

"However, the use of this potential treatment combining amikacin and manuka honey shows great promise as an improved therapy for these terrible pulmonary infections.

“There is a need for better treatment outcomes and in the future, we hope that this potential treatment can be tested further. ”

Dr Jonathan Cox (Pictured), senior lecturer in microbiology, Aston University, said: “By combining a totally natural ingredient such as manuka honey with amikacin, one of the most important yet toxic drugs used for treating Mycobacterium abscessus, we have found a way to potentially kill off these bacteria with eight times less drug than before.

“This has the potential to significantly reduce amikacin-associated hearing loss and greatly improve the quality of life of so many patients - particularly those with cystic fibrosis.

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