Honey, the Anti Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV) Functional Food, According to Studies

By Kyle J. Norton

Honey may have a profound effect in reducing the risk and treatment of varicella-zoster virus (VZV), some scientists suggested.

Varicella-zoster virus is a member of the herpesviruses that cause chickenpox in children, teens, and young adults, and shingles and recurrent shingles in adults.

The disease has been found worldwide and is highly contagious.

Chickenpox usually caused by exposure either through direct contact with a skin lesion or airborne spread from respiratory droplets from infected patients.

In the initial stage of infection, the symptoms usually resolve within 7 to 10 days.

After initial infection, VZV establishes lifelong latency in cranial nerve and dorsal root ganglia and can reactivate years to decades later.

Reactivation of the dormant virus results in the later years can lead to painful dermatomal rash followed by pain in the distribution of the rash. 

In some cases, the diseases can cause infrequently complications of hepatitis, pancreatitis, pneumonitis, and encephalitis and be life-threatening.

However, some adults and children are more likely to develop such complications from primary infection

According to the statistic, in the US, more than 90% of adults acquired the disease in childhood, due to vaccinated with the live virus vaccine.

Dr. Maria A. Nagel and colleagues in the summary of the disease associated with the Varicella zoster virus (VZV), said, "With advancing age or immunosuppression, cell-mediated immunity to VZV declines and virus reactivates to cause zoster (shingles), which can occur anywhere on the body"

" Skin lesions resolve within 1-2 weeks, while complete cessation of pain usually takes 4-6 weeks" and "Zoster can be followed by chronic pain (postherpetic neuralgia), cranial nerve palsies, zoster paresis, meningoencephalitis, cerebellitis, myelopathy, multiple ocular disorders and vasculopathy that can mimic giant cell arteritis. All of the neurological and ocular disorders listed above may also develop without rash".

These results clearly suggested that the elderly due to the increase in age and weaken the immune system, are considered to be the risk group for the development of serious and even life-threatening complications.

Honey is the miraculous product made by bees using nectar from flowers.

The rich golden liquid It is considered one of healthy sweet food for replacing the use of white sugar and artificial sweetener by many people.

With an aim to find a natural ingredient ]or whole food for the prevention and treatment of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection, researchers at the University of Colorado Denver evaluated the anti-viral effect of honey on varicella zoster virus in vitro.

The tested VZV  was obtained from a zoster vesicle.

Manuka and clover kinds of honey were used at concentrations ranging from 0-6% wt/vol in the study.

During the experiment, various concentrations of manuka and clover honey were added to the tissue culture medium of VZV-infected human malignant melanoma (MeWo) cell.

According to the assay, both types of honey demonstrate significantly antiviral activity against varicella-zoster virus with an approximate EC50 = 4.5 % (wt/vol).

At the final report, researchers suggested honey can be considered an anti-varicella-zoster virus agent, because it is an inexpensive product which can be bought at any grocery store and convenient for skin application.

Dr. Shahzad A, said, "honey may be an excellent remedy to treat zoster rash in developing countries where antiviral drugs are expensive or not easily available".

Taken altogether, honey may be used as a topical function food for the prevention of varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection and combined with primary therapy for the treatment of chickenpox in children and shingles and recurrent shingles in adults with no side effects.

However, further data collection large example size and multi-centers studies performed with human consumption of the whole food during the course of the disease will be necessary to complete the picture of honey anti chickenpox and anti shingles possibilities.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) In vitro antiviral activity of honey against varicella zoster virus (VZV): A translational medicine study for potential remedy for shingles by Shahzad A1, Cohrs RJ. (PubMed)
(2) Varicella Zoster Complications by Maria A. Nagel, MDa and Don Gilden, MD. (PubMed)