Furthermore the addition of the honey seemed to ameliorate harmful side effects of the drug, as well as significantly reduce the necessary dosage used in the treatment.

Manuka honey, made in Australia and New Zealand from bees browsing on the Leptospermum scoparium tree, is long known to have wide ranging medicinal properties, but more recently has been identified for its broad spectrum antimicrobial activity.

Now scientists have found that manuka honey has the potential to kill a number of drug resistant bacterial infections such as Mycobacterium abscessus—which usually affects patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) or bronchiectasis.

According to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust UK, CF is a genetic condition affecting around 10,800 people—one in every 2,500 babies born in the UK, and there are more than 100,000 people with it worldwide.