Antimicrobial Effect of Honey as an Alternative Medicine to Treat Resistant Bacteria.

Introduction: Honey is beneficial in various aspects, including food, beauty, and health, serving as medicine and antibacterial against certain bacterial infections. Due to the increasing treatment cost caused by antimicrobial drug resistance, there is a need to explore effective alternatives to reduce cases of resistant bacteria. Therefore, this study aimed to determine antibacterial activity of honey in vitro against resistant bacteria. Materials and methods: The isolates used were MRSA, ESBL-producing (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia), and 3 ATCC control bacteria. A preliminary sensitivity test was carried out on all samples using well diffusion with honey concentrations of 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% (v/v). Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were determined with dilution method using honey concentrations of 100%, 50%, 25%, and 12.5%, in four repetitions. Results: Based on the results, randu honey showed the highest inhibition zone with diameter of 7.00-15.75 mm, longan honey with diameter 7.75-10.75, while coffee honey had the weakest activity at 6.50-10.00 mm. MIC value of randu honey ranged from 25% to 50% (v/v), while MBC varied between 50% and 100% (v/v). Conclusion: Based on 3 types of honey, randu honey shown the best activity against antibiotic-resistant strains of MRSA and ESBL-producing isolate (E. coli and K. pneumonia), indicating that randu honey bee has great potential for therapeutic use as an alternative therapy against resistant bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]