The effectiveness of a mixture of honey, beeswax and olive oil in treatment of canine deep second-degree burn.

Burns is a global public health problem in the developed world and expensive burn dressings are not universally available. Most burns patients suffer from a deep second degree burn that can be treated conservatively. However, the ideal dressing for the burn wound has not been identified. This study is performed in animal experiment to compare the healing of deep second degree burns treated with silver sulfadiazine (SSD) and a Mixture of Honey, Beeswax and olive oil (MHBO). A standard deep second-degree burn wound was produced, in five dogs, each dog has three groups; MHBO, SSD 1% cream and control group (no topical therapy at all). The efficacy of treatment was assessed based on the healing percentage of the wound, time to complete wound healing and the degree of inflammation and exudation. Wound contraction was higher in MHBO group than both SSD and the control group. It was significantly higher in MHBO group than the control group on days 18, 21, 24 and 27 while significantly higher than the SSD group on days 21 and 24. The mean times for wound complete closure were 21.9±2.23 and 24.7±2.39 days for MHBO and SSD, respectively, being significantly shorter for MHBO. Clinically, inflammatory reaction and exudation were less in MHBO group than the SSD group and control group. Using topical MHBO will accelerate the burn wound healing process in comparison with both the control and SSD groups and can be used as an adjunctive or alternative agent in the future.