The effects of topical honey dressing versus silver sulfadiazine dressing for the treatment of burn wounds contaminated by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The management of microbial contamination of burns in order to prevent sepsis is a routine requirement of acute care that led to the development of different therapeutic agents for topical use. This study was performed with the aim to compare the effects of topical honey dressing versus silver sulfadiazine dressing for the treatment of burn wounds contaminated by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This animal study was performed in the central laboratory of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences in 2014. A total of 40 Hindi pigs were randomly divided into two groups of honey and silver sulfadiazine. After six hours of the inoculation of 108 Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the area of burn wound, in the honey group, the wound was dressed with honey, and in the silver sulfadiazine group, the wound was dressed with silver sulfadiazine. Then, after 30 daily dressings, the extent of the remaining wound was measured, and the results were compared between two groups. A P < 0.05 was considered significant. The honey group had less mortality than the silver sulfadiazine group (30% vs. 40%). Within 10 days, more granulation tissue was formed in the honey group than in the silver sulfadiazine group (90% vs. 20%). The extent of the remaining wound was significantly smaller in the honey group than in the silver sulfadiazine group (the percentage by which the wound shrunk was 74% in the honey group vs. 29% in the silver sulfadiazine group). The honey group had less contamination than the silver sulfadiazine group (20% vs. 95% at the 10th days of dressing). The honey dressing was shown to be significantly more effective than the silver sulfadiazine dressing for the treatment of burn wounds.