The mismanagement and overuse of antibiotics have led to a looming problem — we’re running out of the antibiotics needed to treat infections. Those infections that once responded to antibiotics now are their very own “honey badgers.” The bacteria don’t care; they keep growing in the face of antibiotics.
This happened, in part, because we often use antibiotics when we don’t need them. Many took antibiotics “just in case.” They may have taken antibiotics to avoid an infection that hadn’t developed. They might have taken antibiotics when they thought they had an infection but didn’t. With wounds, it is often hard to tell if there is an infection, so using
Honey offers the chance to treat infections, both resistant and not resistant to antibiotics. Bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics are rarely “Super Bugs.” They rarely are any more powerful than any other bacteria and, in fact, sometimes are weaker. It’s just that these resistant bugs do not respond to antibiotics. Honey doesn’t rely on antibiotics so it can help stop bacteria in its own way.
This is like other new but old treatments we are rediscovering as we move closer to a post-antibiotic era. Phages (or viruses that infect bacteria) were used before antibiotics were discovered and are being increasingly examined as a new means of fighting bacteria when antibiotics don’t work. This is also true of different antibody treatments. It may be that more types of treatments that were once considered alternative or complimentary become central and important to the fight against bacteria, as we begin to lose the ability to fight bugs with the antibiotics we have relied upon.