Honey has been used traditionally for ages to treat infectious diseases. These amazing properties of honey are complex as a result of the involvement of various bioactive compounds. Honey is becoming sustainable as a reputable and effective therapeutic agent to practitioners of conventional medicine and to the general public. Its beneficial role has been endorsed due to its antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities as well as boosting of the immune system. Also, other medical conditions discussed here which can be treated with honey include but not limited to diarrhea, gastric ulcer, canine recurrent dermatitis, diabetics, tumor, and arthritis, and honey can also be used for skin disinfection and wound healing. Most of the known factors that give honey these properties include its acidity, high sugar, hydrogen peroxide, and other non-peroxide properties. Some factors may affect the therapeutic properties of honey such as exposure to heat and light.

Infectious bronchitis (IB) and Newcastle disease (ND) are two important diseases of poultry and have remained a threat to the development of the poultry industry in many parts of the world. The immunology of avian has been well studied and numerous vaccines have been developed against the two viruses. Most of these vaccines are either inactivated vaccines or live attenuated vaccines. Inactivated vaccines induce weak cellular immune responses and require priming with live or other types of vaccines. Advanced technology has been used to produce several types of vaccines that can initiate prime immune responses. However, as a result of rapid genetic variations, the control of these two viral infections through vaccination has remained a challenge. Using various strategies such as combination of live attenuated and inactivated vaccines, development of IB/ND vaccines, use of DNA vaccines and transgenic plant vaccines, the problem is being surmounted. It is hoped that with increasing understanding of the immunological mechanisms in birds that are used in fighting these viruses, a more successful control of the diseases will be achieved. This will go a long way in contributing to global food security and the economic development of many developing countries, given the role of poultry in the attainment of these goals.

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This study was carried out to investigate the in vitro antimicrobial properties of crude methanolic extract of Chromolaena odorata and its interactions with some standard antibiotics (ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, and gentamicin) on Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from wound samples. P. aeruginosa was isolated from wound samples from hospital patients in Enugu State, Nigeria, using standard bacteriological methods. Methanolic extraction of C. odorata was carried out using Soxhlet extractor. The antimicrobial activity and in vitro interactions were evaluated using a combination of agar well diffusion and broth dilution techniques. The findings of this study showed that all the P. aeruginosa isolates were susceptible to the C. odorata methanolic crude extract at high concentrations. There was an enhancement of the potency of the methanolic crude extract when combined with low concentrations of standard antibiotics compared to its potency when tested alone. Our findings give credence to the folkloric use of C. odorata for the treatment of wounds, especially P. aeruginosa-infected wounds. There could be beneficial clinical application of the coadministration of standard antibiotics and the crude extract of C. odorata in the treatment of wound infections caused by P. aeruginosa.

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