Evaluation of the sensitivity of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from nasal swabs to natural honey

Abstract

Introduction: Bacterial resistance to antibacterial agents is a very serious threat to public health. Where some antibacterial agents prove ineffective, the antibacterial properties of honey have been shown to be highly efficacious against several human bacterial pathogens. The purpose of this study is to investigate the sensitivity of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from the nursing staff of a hospital to natural honey.
Methods: In this study, 35 strains of methicillin-resistant S. aureus samples were selected from hospital staff’s nasal swabs. Two strains were vancomycin-resistant. The serial dilution tube test methodwas used to determine minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The susceptibility of each strain of staph bacteria to natural honey without wax was determined and compared with that of a glucose solution with the same density.
Results: In all strains, except for the two strains resistant to vancomycin, MIC level was <8.3% (v/v). The MIC of glucose as dense as honey was four times higher. The two vancomycin-resistant strains were completely resistant to natural honey.
Conclusions: This study has therefore demonstrated that inhibiting bacterial growth is not merely done by purely natural honey not because of osmolality, but vancomycin-resistant bacteria are not sensitive to natural honey.

Key words: Sensitivity, Staphylococcus aureus, natural honey, minimum inhibitory concentration