Synergistic Effects of Honeys and Commonly Used Antibiotics on Gram Positive Bacteria

This
study aimed to investigate the growth inhibitory effect of sidr and sommor
honeys and to evaluate the synergistic effects of various honey concentrations
and five antibiotics on gram-positive bacteria in vitro using agar well
diffusion and disk diffusion techniques. This is the first time for studying
the antibacterial activity and synergistic effect of sommor honey against
bacteria. The results indicated that sidr and sommor honeys had antibacterial
activity against the clinical isolates and reference strains of S. aureus
and Strept. pyogenes. The
reference strains were more susceptible to sidr honey than sommor honey while
the clinical isolates were more susceptible to sommor honey than sidr
honey. Increasing honey concentrations
either alone or in combination with antibiotics was significantly increased
(P<0.05) the growth inhibition of the tested bacteria. The synergistic
effects of honeys with antibiotics were significantly (P<0.05) different
among the tested gram-positive bacteria. The highest synergistic effect was
observed against Strept. pyogenes clinical isolate when sidr and sommor
honeys combined with ofloxacin, pipracillin, amoxicillin + clavulanic acid and
sulphamethoxazole + trimethoprim. It can be concluded that sidr and sommor
honeys improved the antibiotic activity and presented a new avenue for
treatment of gram-positive bacterial infections.