M. abscessus is intrinsically drug resistant and treatment regimens are lengthy, consisting of multiple antibiotics with severe side effects and poor patient success rates. New and novel strategies are urgently required to combat these infections. One such strategy thus far overlooked for mycobacteria is manuka honey. For millennia manuka honey has been shown to have wide ranging medicinal properties, which have more recently been identified for its broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity. Here we demonstrate that manuka honey can be used to inhibit M. abscessus and a variety of drug resistant clinical isolates in vitro.

Listen to Dr Jonathan Cox of Aston University School of Biosciences discussing this research on Radio New Zealand https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018859178/dr-jonathan-cox-manuka-honey

Click link to article: https://research.aston.ac.uk/en/publications/in-vitro-synergy-between-manuka-honey-and-amikacin-against-mycoba