Case study: treating an infected wound of unknown aetiology

There are occasions when patients present with wounds where the aetiology is unknown. Planning care for these patients is dependent on the wound assessment and treating the clinical symptoms for example infection. Wound infection is often regarded as a challenging problem for clinicians and a considerable financial burden for the NHS.¹

From a patient perspective, wound infection presents with unpleasant symptoms such as increased exudate, pain, swelling and malodour.² The introduction of antibiotics in the late 1940s and 1950s had a huge impact on the control of bacterial infections; however, recently, owing to bacterial resistance, topical antimicrobials such as honey are starting to regain appeal in treating wound infection.^{3, 4} The aim of this case study is to demonstrate how a honey dressing was used to treat an infected wound of unknown aetiology.