Antimicrobial spectrum of honey for aerobic organisms as seen at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu

Background: Honey is an ancient topical wound dressing that has evoked international interest. The widespread use of honey on wounds is being encouraged but differences in its antimicrobial spectrum exist. There are few local laboratory studies available to guide clinicians in this environment, hence this study. Materials and methods: A sample of commercially prepared honey from the tropical bee species was obtained and used in this prospective study. The initial medium was a 1-in-3 dilution of pure honey-agar mixture. Against this was smeared isolates from aerobic cultures of wounds in the microbiology laboratory of the National Orthopaedic Hospital, and incubated at 370 C for 72 hours. Seventy-five samples are presented in this on going study, of which 67 are consecutive samples. The rest are specific isolates of pathogenic organisms grown from patients’ wounds and cultured against the honey sample and incubated for 24hours. Eight such samples were further incubated up to 72 hours and checked. A crude flammability test for purity was applied to the honey sample before use. Results: Honey was found to inhibit the growth of common gram positive and negative organisms including multi-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. When the pure cultures were treated with honey for 72 hours and then streaked on agar plates, no aerobic organism grew thereafter, including those that had previously grown on the 1-in-3 honey-agar mixture. Conclusion: Routine laboratory honey antimicrobial spectrum provided by use of honey-agar mixture is recommended as a guide to its clinical use. Key words: honey, antimicrobial sensitivity, laboratory test.