A Comparative Study Between Honey and Alcohol as Topical Skin Disinfectant

Skin antisepsis is essential in every healthcare environment. Alcohol/chlorhexidine use might disrupt skin microbiota and lead to antibiotic resistance.

This study investigates honey (being natural product with many beneficial therapeutic effects) as topical skin anti-septic agent and compares it with alcohol, in terms of effectiveness and safety.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Disinfectant Causing Toxic Effect
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Alcohol sterilization; Other: Honey sterilization

Detailed Description

Recent years' investigations of the co-evolution and functional integration of the human body and its commensal microbiota have disclosed that the microbiome has a major impact on physiological functions including protection against infections.

Invasive procedures such as injections, punctures or surgeries penetrate the skin's natural protective barrier, which may allow pathogenic microorganisms to enter deeper skin layers and cavities and trigger infections there.

Alcohols usually in the form of 70% isopropyl alcohol or 60 to 80% ethyl alcohol, are commonly used topical disinfectants.

Despite being efficiently broad-spectrum antiseptic, Alcohol shows some local hazards affecting skin integrity and microbiome.

Honey has been used in wound care since ancient. It has many beneficial therapeutic effects, including anti-microbia, antioxidant, immune-modulator, wound healing and synbiotic effects .

Antimicrobial agents are important in reducing the burden of infectious diseases.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 70
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: ahmed badr; Phone Number: 00201093562378; Email: abn777777@yahoo.com
• Study Contact Backup: Name: yosra awad; Phone Number: 00201001831590; Email: yosraawad@med.asu.edu.eg

Study Locations

• Egypt
  • Cairo, Egypt, 1181
    • Recruiting
    • Ain shams university, Cairo

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• - Children aged from 2 to 12 years, of both sexes, and with apparently healthy skin.
• Children, who did not receive any form of antimicrobial agent for at least one-week prior study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• - Immuno-compromised due to diseases or drugs.
• - Children having any skin disease as eczema or others

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: alcohol group; 70% isopropyl alcohol will be topically applied and spread uniformly on a prespecified area of at least 3 cm x 3cm on the dorsum of the hand. A skin swab will be obtained from the selected skin area just before and 20 seconds after topical application of alcohol and honey.	Other: Alcohol sterilization; Sterilizing skin using alcohol
Active Comparator: honey group; honey will be topically applied and spread uniformly on a prespecified area of at least 3 cm x 3cm on the dorsum of the hand. A skin swab will be obtained from the selected skin area just before and 20 seconds after topical application of alcohol and honey.	Other: Honey sterilization; Sterilizing skin using honey

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Assess efficacy of honey as a disinfectant in comparison to the standard disinfectant which is alcohol	taking a swab from skin for culture of organisms after application of either alcohol or honey and compare type of organisms and number of colony forming units	3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Ain Shams University
• Investigators: Study Director: mamdouh abdelmaksoud, Ain Shams University; Study Director: yosra awad, Ain Shams University; Study Director: maha ahmad, Ain Shams University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Breasted JH. (1930): The Edwin Smith papyrus: published in facsimile and hieroglyphic transliteration. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Wiemken TL. Skin antiseptics in healthcare facilities: is a targeted approach necessary? BMC Public Health. 2019 Aug 22;19(1):1158. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-7507-5.
• Gheldof N, Engeseth NJ. Antioxidant capacity of honeys from various floral sources based on the determination of oxygen radical absorbance capacity and inhibition of in vitro lipoprotein oxidation in human serum samples. J Agric Food Chem. 2002 May 8;50(10):3050-5. doi: 10.1021/jf0114637.
• Hasyimi W, Widanarni W, Yuhana M. Growth Performance and Intestinal Microbiota Diversity in Pacific White Shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei Fed with a Probiotic Bacterium, Honey Prebiotic, and Synbiotic. Curr Microbiol. 2020 Oct;77(10):2982-2990. doi: 10.1007/s00284-020-02117-w. Epub 2020 Jul 18.
• Held E, Mygind K, Wolff C, Gyntelberg F, Agner T. Prevention of work related skin problems: an intervention study in wet work employees. Occup Environ Med. 2002 Aug;59(8):556-61. doi: 10.1136/oem.59.8.556.
• Jull AB, Cullum N, Dumville JC, Westby MJ, Deshpande S, Walker N. Honey as a topical treatment for wounds. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015 Mar 6;2015(3):CD005083. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD005083.pub4.
• Majtan J. Honey: an immunomodulator in wound healing. Wound Repair Regen. 2014 Mar-Apr;22(2):187-92. doi: 10.1111/wrr.12117. Epub 2014 Feb 24.
• Mandal MD, Mandal S. Honey: its medicinal property and antibacterial activity. Asian Pac J Trop Biomed. 2011 Apr;1(2):154-60. doi: 10.1016/S2221-1691(11)60016-6.
• Christensen GJ, Bruggemann H. Bacterial skin commensals and their role as host guardians. Benef Microbes. 2014 Jun 1;5(2):201-15. doi: 10.3920/BM2012.0062.
• Sato T, Miyata G. The nutraceutical benefit, part iii: honey. Nutrition. 2000 Jun;16(6):468-9. doi: 10.1016/s0899-9007(00)00271-9. No abstract available.
• Trevisanato SI. Treatments for burns in the London Medical Papyrus show the first seven biblical plagues of Egypt are coherent with Santorini's volcanic fallout. Med Hypotheses. 2006;66(1):193-6. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2005.08.052. Epub 2005 Oct 14.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 30, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 15, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 28, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 10, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 6, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): July 10, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 7, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 6, 2025
• Last Verified: April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: MS 312/2022

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No