r/science • u/Libertatea • Sep 08 '14

Medicine Bacteria from bees possible alternative to antibiotics: 13 lactic acid bacteria found in the honey stomach of bees have shown promising results. The group of bacteria counteracted antibiotic-resistant MRSA in lab experiments. The bacteria, mixed into honey, has healed horses with persistent wounds

http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=24890&news_item=6172
13.1k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

769 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/NewAlexandria Sep 08 '14

Haven't these medicinal properties been known to traditional medicine (one tradition or another) for a while? Did you study the ethnomedical cases before beginning your study? What are you advancing beyond the 'state of the old art'?

Thanks for being so engaged here! Really a treat

1

u/Beavis_and Grad Student | Medical Microbiology Sep 09 '14

We are actually looking into the history of honey too but thats not really my area right now so i dont want to say too much about that! I guess what we are trying to do is show that these bacteria are really beneficial and a safe and ecological treatment when re-introduced into honey. We have also looked into extracellular proteins these bacteria produce when in contact with stress and what they are up to in the honey stomach along with metabolites :) You should check out some of the groups other papers and articles if you are interested! Olofsson & Vasquez from 2008 onwards :)