International Journal of Microbiology and Immunology Research Vol. 2(7), pp. 109-115, November 2014 ISSN 2327-7769 ©2014 Academe Research Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Effectiveness of antibiotics blended with honey on some pathogenic bacteria species

Salwa H. Alkhyat¹ and Maher Ali Al.Maqtari²*

¹Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Sana'a University, Yemen.

²Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Sana'a University, Yemen.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: proteinase_613@hotmail.com.

Accepted 21 November, 2014

Abstract

The antibacterial activity of three local Yemeni honey brands (Sidr, Maraiy and Somor honey) and antibiotics (Gentamicin and Doxycyclinehyclate) were investigated by agar well diffusion method against four standard bacteria isolates: Escherichia coli ATCC 10536 (E. coli), Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29737 (S. aureus), Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 25619 (P. aeruginosa) and Salmonella abony ATCC6017 (S. abony), and a comparison of these isolates was made with the effectiveness of antibiotics blended with honey on the growth of all used standard bacteria. All diluted honey brands (25%, 50% and 75%) inhibited growth of 3 standard bacteria (S. abony, S. aureus then E. coli), while P. aeruginosa gave moderate growth with effect on its pigment production. The inhibitory effect of Gentamicin on test organisms inhibited the growth of S. aureus (17.5 mm), S. abony (15 mm) and P. aeruginosa (6.5 mm). Mixture of Gentamicin and honey brands showed maximum inhibitory zones (sensitivity) with S. abony and S. aureus then P. aeruginosa as 32, 30 and 16 mm, respectively; whereas Doxycycline hyclate was not effective on the tested organisms except S. aureus which showed high sensitivity (30-32 mm) when Doxycycline hyclate was blended with the samples of honey. The obtained results in this study approved the mixture of honey and antibiotics having antibacterial potency able to establish valuable inhibition zones in vitro and they were higher in inhibition values than the reference drugs. In conclusion, honey (a natural product) could effectively complement standard antibiotics, especially in cases of pathogenic infections in wounds in general and in burn wounds in particular, with beneficial healing effects.

Key words: Yemeni honey, antibiotics, blended, pathogenic organisms.