The Buzz Newsletter

January 2008

 

 

Page 7

( continued from Page 6 )

news accounts of the dramatic recovery of a patient with a longtime wound that suddenly healed.

Regular honey can have mild medicinal benefits. A study published Dec. 3 showed it helps to calm children's coughs so they can sleep. But manuka honey is far more potent, research shows.

Dr. Robert Frykberg, chief of podiatry at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Phoenix, said the Medihoney product has worked on about half the patients with diabetic foot ulcers who have used it.

He said the Medihoney dressing can also prevent the dangerous drug-resistant staph infection known as MRSA from infecting open wounds.
"It's been used on wounds where nothing else will work," said biochemist Peter Molan, a professor at the University of Waikato in New Zealand who has researched honey and other natural antibiotics for 25 years.

He's found manuka honey can kill the toughest bacteria even when diluted 10 times and recommends it especially for people with weak immune systems.
"There's more evidence, clinical evidence, by far for honey in wound treatment than for any of the pharmaceutical products" for infection, Molan said. However, it won't work once an infection gets in the blood. "It's not a miracle."

Some U.S. hospitals and wound care clinics are already using Medihoney dressings to treat patients with stubborn, infected wounds from injuries or surgical incisions and nonhealing pressure ulcers on diabetics' feet, which too often lead to amputations.

Kara Couch, a nurse practitioner at Georgetown University Hospital's Center for Wound Healing in Washington, said it works well for patients who have "wound pain" or infected wounds.

One patient who had an open wound that didn't heal for a few years "healed 90 percent in three weeks," she said, adding that the usual rate for chronic wounds is barely 10 percent a week.
Fewer complications David Crosby, a retired insurance claims examiner from Hanover, Massachusetts, began using Medihoney two months ago on a 2 1/2-year-old burn on his leg after high-tech treatments did not help. The burn's size has shrunk by half and it continues to heal.
"At this stage, any improvement's better than nothing," Crosby said. Dr. Craig Lambrecht, a North Dakota emergency physician, started using a paste version of Medihoney while serving with the National Guard in Iraq last winter.

At a military clinic for Iraqi children, he used it on patients with severe burns from cooking fuels, open fires and explosions. He said Iraqi families soon preferred the honey over other treatments because it was natural and because the honey dressings don't need to be changed as often as traditional ones. The children also healed more quickly and with fewer complications, he said.
After seeing its success in Iraq, Lambrecht, who has five children of his own, is a fan.

"I would use the Medihoney on burns on my children, as the first choice, without question," he said.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22398921/

Design Contest

 

The IHPA officers and board members recently authorized a contest for the membership.  The canopy area above the Iowa State Fair product booth is in need of a design to designate to the public what is in that area.  The fair attendees that are downstairs in the Ag. Building can see the white canopy, but there is nothing to indicate what is in the booth. We do have signs that say Iowa Honey Producers Association in front of the exhibit area and signs that say the beehive on the sides of the canopy and banners that announce the honey lemonade, but nothing in front and visible from the lower floor.  We are opening up a contest to help us find a design to display there.  It could be a slogan, honey bees, words and graphics, artwork, etc.  The creativity of the entry, the feasible of the board to implement the design and workmanship will be considered.  The winner will receive a $75.00 cash prize.

Please submit your ideas to

Mike Brahms
65071 720th Street
Cumberland, IA  50843

The entry deadline is January 15th.  The area to be covered with a design is approximately 10 feet by 33 feet and is the large area above the sales counter at the Iowa State Fair booth located in the Ag Building.