In Vitro Antibacterial Activity of Honey from Wamba, Nasarawa State, Against Clinical Isolates of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Microbial resistance to modern antimicrobial drugs poses a serious threats to the health of individuals worldwide. This study was aimed to exploring honey as a natural alternative to solving microbial resistance to antimicrobial drugs. Honey was used against clinically gotten Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were reconfirmed by using cultural, morphological and biochemical tests. Agar well diffusion was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of honey.  The antibacterial activity of various concentration of honey against E. coli and S. aureus shows that honey inhibited all the test isolates at 100mg/mL, 50.00mg/mL, 25.00mg/mL and 12.50mg/mL against E. coli. The mean inhibition zone diameters were 15.00± 0.09 mm at 100.00mg/mL, 9.10± 0. 51mm at 50.00mg/mL, 6.01± 0.11mm at 25.00mg/mL and 4.14± 0.13mm at 12.50mg/mL while for MDR S. aureus, the inhibition zone diameters were 18.07± 0.00mm at 100.00mg/mL, 11.20± 0.32mg at 50.00mg/mL and 5.11± 0.07mm at 25.00mg/mL amount of honey. Honey was more active with MIC of 12.50mg/mL against MDR E coli and 25.00mg/mL against MDR S aureus. The result showed that honey was more effective against S. aureus than E. coli. The posive control, amoxicillin-clavulanate showed lower MIC values ranging from 1.56-3.12mg/mL against E. coli and S. aureus. These findings indicate that honey possesses significant antimicrobial properties but its efficacy is lower than conventional antimicrobials. However, honey may serve as a potential alternative or complementary therapeutic agent against resistant bacterial strains.