Synergic antibacterial activity of honey-garlic versus honey-ginger on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated from acute wound infection in Guyana, South America

Abstract

This study compared the antibacterial activity of honey-garlic and honey-ginger mixtures against two clinically important bacteria frequently implicated in acute wound infections; Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Individual extracts of honey, ginger, garlic and erythromycin antibiotics (positive control), were also tested. Concentrations of 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% of the natural extracts and mixtures were prepared by the use of sterilized distilled water as the solvent. The antibacterial activity of each natural extract and the antibiotic was tested against the aforementioned bacterial species at different concentrations using the disc diffusion method. Further, MIC and MBC tests were conducted on each natural mixture using the broth dilution method and spread plate method, respectively. Our results showed garlic exhibited the highest antibacterial activity against both bacteria at 100% concentration, whereas honey and ginger showed the lowest antibacterial activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, respectively at 25% concentrations. Honey-garlic mixture was the most effective against Klebsiella pneumoniae, whereas honey-ginger mixture was the most effective against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The antibiotic was more effective than the natural mixtures against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, but not so effective against Klebsiella pneumoniae. The MIC of both mixtures against Pseudomonas aeruginosa ranged from 25%-50%, while it ranged from 6%-50% for Klebsiella pneumoniae. Honey-garlic was the only mixture against Klebsiella pneumoniae that exhibited bactericidal effects at 50% (MBC).