Publication Date
2024
Document Type
Book
Description
Before the antibiotic age, medicaments composed of natural substances were prescribed to clean, seal, and heal wounds. The De Materia Medica of Pedanius Dioscorides and the Historia Naturalis of Pliny the Elder, for instance, prescribed a combination of honey and narcissus (daffodil) for burn wounds. Liam McGuirk’s 2022 Honors Thesis found that this remedy inhibits Staphylococcus growth on bare well-plates and agar. This expanded project found that the treatment inhibits bacterial growth over several days, even when diluted in Brain-Heart Infusion medium (BHI). Furthermore, this medicament can stunt biofilms after two days of growth, both on keratinocytes (human skin cell constructs) and bare well plates. Biofilm infections of wounds pose a major threat to human health, both in classical antiquity and modernity, due to their resistance to antibiotic treatment. More investigation into this medicament’s biochemical components may yield a useful alternative treatment for wounds of all kinds.
Files
Download Full Text (587 KB)
Recommended Citation
O'Sullivan, Arthur; Tan, Kevin; Armandi, Anna; and Nada, Reem, "Preventing and Treating Staphylococcal Biofilm Infection with an Ancient Medicine" (2024). Research Days Posters 2024. 121.
https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2024/121