Antibacterial and anti-virulence activity of manuka honey against genetically diverse Staphylococcus pseudintermedius. - GreenMedInfo Summary

causes opportunistic infections in dogs. It also has significant zoonotic potential, with the emergence of multidrug-resistance leading to difficulty treating both animal and human infections. Manuka honey has previously been reported to inhibit many bacterial pathogens including methicillin resistantand is successfully utilised in both clinical and veterinary practice. Here we evaluated the ability of manuka honey to inhibit strains ofgrowth alone and in combination with antibiotics, and its capacity to modulate virulence within multipleAll 18 of the genetically diversestrains sequenced and tested were inhibited by≤ 12% (w/v) medical grade manuka honey, although tolerance to five clinically relevant antibiotics was observed. The susceptibility of the isolates to four of these antibiotics was significantly increased (p ≤0.05) when combined with sub lethal concentrations of honey, although sensitivity to oxacillin was decreased. Virulence (DNase, protease and haemolysin) activity was also significantly reduced (p ≤ 0.05) in over half of isolates when cultured with sub lethal concentrations of honey (13, 9 and 10 isolates respectively). These findings highlight the potential for manuka honey to be utilised againstinfections.is an important member of the skin microbial community in animals and can cause opportunistic infections in both pets and their owners. The high incidence of antimicrobial resistance inhighlights that this opportunistic zoonotic pathogen can cause infections which require prolonged and intensive treatment to resolve. Manuka honey has proven efficacy against many bacterial pathogens and is an accepted topical treatment for infections in both veterinary and clinical practice so is a particularly appropriate antimicrobial for use with zoonotic pathogens such asHere we demonstrate that manuka honey is not only highly potent against novel multi-drug resistantisolates, but also acts synergistically with clinically relevant antibiotics. In addition, manuka honey modulatesvirulence activity, even at subinhibitory concentrations. In a clinical setting these attributes may assist in controlling infection, allowing a more rapid resolution and reducing antibiotic use.