New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts

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The sensitivity of mastitis-causing bacteria to the antibacterial activity of honey

K. L. ALLEN
P. C. MOLAN

Honey Research Unit
Department of Biological Sciences
The University of Waikato
Private Bag 3105
Hamilton, New Zealand

Abstract  The use of honey as a wound dressing is well established in traditional and modern medicine. There are many reports of its effectiveness in clearing bacterial infections in ulcers and abscesses, which suggest that it may be suitable for the intramammary treatment of mastitis. To evaluate this possibility, the species of bacteria that commonly cause mastitis in dairy cows were tested for their sensitivity to the antibacterial activity of honey. The growth of all seven species tested was completely inhibited by a typical honey (with antibacterial activity attributed to its content of hydrogen peroxide) at a concentration of 10% (v/v) in the agar plates, and two by 5% honey. Six of the species were completely inhibited by a typical manuka honey (with antibacterial activity attributed to its content of a non-peroxide component) at a concentration of 5% (v/v). Only one species was inhibited by 10% (v/v) artificial honey (sugars and gluconic acid as in honey). As honey is harmless to tissues and would leave no undesirable residues in milk, it would be of interest to now evaluate it therapeutically in clinical mastitis.

Keywords  honey; mastitis; antibacterial

New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 1997, Vol. 40: 537-540

0028-8233/97/4004-0537 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1997

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (340K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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