Honey Inhibits Candida Growth

Fungicidal efficacy of various honeys against fluconazole-resistant Candida species isolated from HIV+ patients with candidiasis

Effet fongicide de miels différents contre les espèces de Candida fluconazole-résistants isolées de patients VIH+ avec une candidose

Journal de Mycologie Médicale / Journal of Medical Mycology
Available online 31 January 2017

Objective

Honey is well known to possess a broad spectrum of activity against medically important organisms. The purpose of this study was to assess the antifungal activity of different honeys against 40 fluconazole (FLU) resistant Candida species, including Candida albicans (C. albicans), Candida glabrata, Candida krusei and Candida tropicalis.

Materials and methods

Three honey samples were collected from northern (Mazandaran, A), southern (Hormozgan, B) and central (Lorestan, C) regions of Iran. A microdilution technique based on the CLSI, M27-A2 protocol was employed to compare the susceptibility of honeys “A”, “B” and “C” against different pathogenic Candida isolates.

Results

The results showed that different Candida isolates were resistant to FLU, ranging from 64 μg/mL to 512 μg/mL. All of the honeys tested had antifungal activities against FLU-resistant Candida species, ranging from 20% to 56.25% (v/v) and 25% to 56.25% (v/v) for minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and minimum fungicidal concentrations (MFCs), respectively. Honey “A” (MIC: 31.59%, v/v) showed higher anti-Candida activity than honey “B” (MIC: 35.99%, v/v) and honey “C” (MIC: 39.2%, v/v). No statistically significant differences were observed among the mean MIC values of the honey samples (P > 0.05). The order of overall susceptibility of Candida species to honey samples were; C. krusei > C. glabrata > C. tropicalis > C. albicans (P > 0.05). In addition, the mean MICs of Candida strains isolated from the nail, vagina and oral cavity were 33.68%, 36.44% and 39.89%, respectively, and were not significantly different (P > 0.05).

Conclusion

Overall, varying susceptibilities to the anti-Candida properties of different honeys were observed with four FLU-resistant species of Candida. Further research is needed to assess the efficacy of honey as an inhibitor of candidal growth in clinical trials.