Antifungal activity of unifloral and multifloral Pakistani honeys against clinically isolated Candida species

Abstract

Natural honey is utilized worldwide as nutraceutical due to its proven efficacy in treating chronic and acute infections including fungal infections caused by multidrug-resistant microbes. Candida species e.g. Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis, Candida glabrata, and Candida tropicalis are involved in skin infections as well as chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis. Multidrug-resistant candida infections occur frequently in both communities and hospitals. To control these devastating fungal infections, identification of new potent antifungal agents is essentially required. The present study was aimed to evaluate the antifungal potency of various Pakistani honey against clinically isolated specimens of Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis, Candida glabrata and Candida tropicalis using agar dilution assay. Natural honey samples showed antifungal activity at minimum inhibitory concentration values of 3-10% w/v against all Candida species tested except for Candida glabrata isolates which showed resistance to honey samples tested.