Assessing the in vitro antibacterial activity of honey against wound and respiratory tract infecting bacteria

Abstract

Background: Honey is a natural product rich in compounds with antimicrobial properties. The antimicrobial properties are being harnessed in the treatment of respiratory tractinfections and wound care. Honey is locally available in Nigeria and is used in thetreatment of wounds as well as respiratory tract infections. However, the antimicrobialpotentials differ across honey sources and locality.
AIM: We sought to obtain laboratory based-evidence by assessing the antibacterialactivities of three honey samples collected from Nsukka in Enugu State.
Methods: Neat and diluted honey was tested on six (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella specie, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus faecium, and Streptococcus pneumoniae) bacterial isolates from infected wound and sputum specimen using in vitro agar diffusion assay.
Results: The result obtained showed that the different honey samples had antibacterial activity on all the strains of bacteria tested except for Pseudomonas aeruginosa with minimum inhibitory concentration ranging from 10mg/ml to 27 mg/ml.
Conclusion: This suggests the usefulness of honey as an antibacterial for wound and respiratory tract infecting bacteria. However, the need for isolation and susceptibility testing of infecting bacterial organisms to honey in clinical practice is recommended.