In-Vitro Antimicrobial Effect of Different Honey Samples against Selected Micro-organisms Marketed in Abuja Nigeria

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial effect of honey samples sold in different markets in Abuja, Nigeria against some selected microbial isolates.

Study Design: Five honey samples obtained from different markets in Abuja metropolis, Nigeria were used for this study against some medically important micro-organisms viz; Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella paratyphi, Klebsiella pneumonia and Candida albicans.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in Abuja, Nigeria at the Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development [NIPRD], from January 2018 to February 2018.

Methodology: Agar diffusion technique of Microbiological standard was employed. Each of the 5 honey samples was diluted in two-fold dilutions to have 100, 50, 25 and 12.5% concentrations respectively and tested against the test organisms. A fixed-dose concentration of chloramphenicol at 30 µg/mL was used as a control drug against the bacterial isolates.

Results: All the honey samples showed varying degrees of inhibitory effect against all the test organisms. It inhibited all the organisms at 100% concentration while some samples showed activity at 50% concentration. However, only Salmonella paratyphi was susceptible at 25% while no effect was observed at 12.5% concentration for all the honey samples.

Conclusion: The study has shown that honey has an antimicrobial effect on certain micro-organisms, and could be used as an adjunct therapy against certain infections to minimise proliferation of multi-drug resistant micro-organisms in the society.