Language: Spanish
References: 17
Page: 59-66
PDF size: 191.26 Kb.
ABSTRACT
Introduction. Honey has been recognized for its anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties since ancient times. The growing appearance of antibiotics resistant bacterial strains has promoted honey’s analysis for the alternative treatment of ulcers, wounds and burns. There are two major groups of honey producing bees, those that sting (
Apis melliphera) and stingless (
Meliponini). The chemical composition of each of these two group’s honey is not identical, and these chemical differences may affect the honey’s effects on microorganisms.
Objective. The aim of this work was to evaluate the microbiological charge present in stingless bee honey and their potential antimicrobial effects, in order to evaluate its use in the therapeutic treatment of wounds, ulcers, burns, etc.
Materials and Methods. The microbiological quality and potential presence of
Clostridium botulinum was evaluated in 30 samples coming from different geographic zones of Costa Rica. Also, antimicrobial activity against
Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923),
Staphylococcus epidermidis (UCR 2902),
Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 9027),
Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), E. coli O157:H7,
Salmonella enteritidis (ATCC 13076) and
Listeria monocytogenes (ATCC 19116) was evaluated.
Results. Results obtained show that 87% of the samples had bacterial and spore counts equal or lower than 1.0 x 10
1 CFU/g, none presented fecal or total coliforms, and none were positive for the detection of
C. botulinum. All the honeys analyzed exhibited some kind of inhibitory effect over at least one of the microorganisms evaluated, either in pure form or diluted.
Conclusions. Results obtained conclude that stingless bee honey shows good microbiological quality and adequate inhibitory effect over the growth of several microorganisms, so, its potential therapeutic use is promising.
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