Antibacterial and antifungal activity of Italian unifloral honeys extracts against different pathogenic species

The phenomenon of antibiotic resistance, that appears increasingly alarming worldwide, has renewed the interest in the study of many natural extracts with antimicrobial properties, such as honey. Even if several honeys have been approved for clinical using, there are some obstacles for therapeutic applicability of honey in medicine, and not only. The variability of antimicrobial activity of different honeys and the incomplete knowledge of the involved antimicrobial compounds are the major ones. The aim of this study has been to define the antimicrobial profile of hydro-alcoholic extracts prepared from Italian unifloral honeys, particularly acacia, chestnut and sulla. The antimicrobial capability of hydro-alcoholic extracts was evaluated against clinical isolates of different bacterial species involved in human pathology, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Escherichia coli. In addition, the antifungal effect of honeys extracts was verified against the UEF88662-Aphanomyces astaci and SMM2-Fusarium avenaceum strains, both fungal species responsible of different diseases in crayfish and plants. In vitro preliminary microbiological results demonstrated that unifloral honeys hydro-alcoholic extracts from Campania are able to effectively counteract the growth and survival of different pathogenic microrganisms.