Antimicrobial Efficacy of Wasp Honey Extracts against Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria
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Abstract
This study investigates the antibacterial activity of ethanol extracts derived from wasp honey against eight multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial species. The tested isolates included Acinetobacter baumannii, Burkholderia cepacia, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus agalactiae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterococcus faecalis; antibiotic susceptibility showed that 96% of isolates were resistant to tetracycline, followed by Ampicillin and Ciprofloxacin, each with 58% resistance. Notably, resistance to critical last-line antibiotics such as imipenem was 10%; colistin, amikacin and moxifloxacin were 8%; and tigecycline was 4%, indicating relatively limited resistance to these antibiotics. We used Soxhlet extraction to isolate phenolic chemicals: powder, Polyphenolic-rich oil, oil without polyphenols and polyphenol-only extracts, using ethanol as the solvent. We assessed antibacterial activity using both broth microdilution and well diffusion techniques. The microdilution assay revealed minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values between 2.5 and 10 mg/mL, indicating modest antibacterial efficacy against all examined multidrug-resistant organisms. A concentration of just 1.25 mg/mL demonstrated inhibitory effects against Escherichia coli and Streptococcus agalactiae, underscoring the extract's efficacy at reduced dosages. In the well diffusion assay, inhibitory zones ranged from 8 mm to 19 mm, with the largest zone against Streptococcus agalactiae (19 mm). The results show that wasp honey extracts are effective against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria with similar potency. This is the first study in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq, to identify and highlight the efficacy of wasp honey extracts as an innovative natural antibacterial agent.
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