Antimicrobial effect of bee honey on some pathogenic bacteria isolated from infected wounds in comparison to commonly used antibiotics

Abstract EN

Honey produced by the honey bees is one of the ancient traditional medicines used for treatment and prevention of various illnesses.

In this study the antimicrobial effect of bee honey on organisms isolated from infected wounds in comparison with commonly used antibiotics for the treatment of infection was evaluated.

(50) Swabs from patients with infected wounds were cultured.

The most frequently isolated organism was Pseudomonas aeruginosa representing (44 %) of the isolates followed by coagulase–positive Staphylococci (30 %).

The susceptibility of the isolated organisms to honey, antibiotics and combination of both was studied .The mean inhibition zone produced by honey when applied to isolated gram–negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and isolated gram–positive bacteria (coagulase positive Staphylococci ) was significantly higher than that of the antibiotic used (P < 0.005), and when combination of both honey and antibiotic was used, it showed highly significant increased sensitivity than that of honey or antibiotic alone (P < 0.001).