The antimicrobial activity and microbiological safety of stingless bee honeys from Costa Rica

An insight into the antibiofilm properties of Costa Rican stingless bee honeys

“…The later was confirmed by the absence of pathogens, and low microbial counts that allow compliance with the European Pharmacopoeia's acceptance criteria for microbiological quality of non-sterile substances for pharmaceutical use. 23 In addition, these Meliponini honeys reported in vitro antioxidant capacities and immunomodulatory activities (that are relevant to wound healing) with no statistical significant differences to Medihoney. 45 Furthermore, stingless bee honeys proceeding from Costa Rica have broadspectrum antimicrobial activity.…”

“…6,7,[12][13][14] Honey, a more than four millennia-old therapy for wound healing has had resurgence of interest. [22][23][24][25][26][27] Medicinal honey is produced in Australia and New Zealand; honeybees (Apis mellifera) collect the nectar of the manuka tree (Leptospermum scoparium) to produce manuka honey. [28][29][30] Medihoney (DermaSciences, Inc.), a manuka honey-based wound treatment has proven clinical efficacy against antibiotic resistant microorganisms, 29,31 and in 2008 Medihoney received the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for use as a wound dressing.…”

“…These honeys were active against type culture microbial strains of clinical relevance for the wound healing practice. 23,[44][45][46] Finally, Costa Rican Meliponini honeys reported inhibitory action over antibiotic-resistant isolates of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa obtained from infected hospital patients. 47 To our knowledge, this is the first article to examine the antibiofilm properties of stingless bee honeys using Staphylococcus aureus biofilm microplate-based assays and activity guided isolation techniques.…”

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“…Cytotoxicity studies of stingless bee honey broad spectrum antibacterial activity because honey can act against a wide range of bacteria that able to cause disease (Boorn et al, 2010;. Most of the studies of honey were performed on Staphylococcus aureus (Miorin et al, 2003;Demera et al, 2004;Temaru et al, 2007;Chanchao et al, 2009;Boorn et al, 2010;Chan-Rodriguez et al, 2012;Ilechie et al, 2012;Andualem et al, 2013;Ewnetu et al, 2013;Merces et al, 2013;Queiroz et al, 2013;Zainol et al, 2013;Nobre da Cruz et al, 2014;Massaro et al, 2014;Zamora et al, 2014) showed that it is the most susceptible tested pathogen to stingless bee honey. As we know, Staphylococcus aureus is a common pathogen found in human skin and can cause infection in the presence of a wound.…”

“…Previous study showed that stingless bee honey can act as anti-inflammatory (Borsato et al, 2014), anticancer (Kustiawan et al, 2014;Yazan et al, 2016), antimicrobial (Miorin et al, 2003;Demera et al, 2004;Garedew et al, 2004;Temaru et al, 2007;Kimoto-Nira and Amano, 2008;Chanchao et al, 2009;Boorn et al, 2010;Rodríguez et al, 2012;Ilechie et al, 2012;Andualem, 2013;Ewnetu et al, 2013;Mercês et al, 2013;Queiroz et al, 2013;Zainol et al, 2013;Nobre da Cruz et al, 2014;Massaro et al, 2014;Zamora et al, 2014;Medeiros et al, 2016;De Sousa et al, 2016; and possessed antioxidant properties (Duarte et al, 2012;Almeida da Silva et al, 2013;De Sousa et al, 2016). However, the beneficial of stingless bee honey has been abandoned in modern medicine due to the paucity of systematic scientific studies for supporting its medical properties (Pe´rez et al, 2006).…”