Bacteria from Bees

We recently came across another awesome article that we wanted to share.  Anything related to the pests we treat day in and out is fascinating to us so when we found this write up on BEES we were hooked.  We all know the bad things about bees – particularly their stings, but they have some great qualities as well!  Known as the bugs that make honey, a recent discovery shows they could do much more than just that.

The article we found shares the findings of Lund University in Sweden.  Honey from bees has been used to treat wounds for thousands of years but little else has really been discovered about it’s healing properties.  The latest discovery is related to fresh honey that contains live bacteria, and not the honey that you can buy in stores, which contains only dead bacteria.

A discovery was made that the lactic acid bacteria (these live in symbiosis with bees in their stomachs and appear to be involved in the production of honey) produce a range of antimicrobial compounds. The bacteria are present in large amounts in fresh, untreated honey around the world.  They found the lactic acid bacteria were effective against MRSA, VRE, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and other pathogens that cause serious infections in hospital patients and people with weakened immune systems.  This means that, once tested on humans, it’s possible these bacteria could be used to treat these infections in place of antibiotics.

Here is a Link to the original article!