Fungicidal efficacy of various honeys against fluconazole-resistant Candida species isolated from HIV+patients with candidiasis.
OBJECTIVE
Honey is well known to possess a broad spectrum of activity against medically important organisms. The purpose of this study was to assess the antifungal activity of different honeys against 40 fluconazole (FLU) resistant Candida species, including Candida albicans (C. albicans), Candida glabrata, Candida krusei and Candida tropicalis.


METHODS
Three honey samples were collected from northern (Mazandaran, A), southern (Hormozgan, B) and central (Lorestan, C) regions of Iran. A microdilution technique based on the CLSI, M27-A2 protocol was employed to compare the susceptibility of honeys "A", "B" and "C" against different pathogenic Candida isolates.


RESULTS
The results showed that different Candida isolates were resistant to FLU, ranging from 64μg/mL to 512μg/mL. All of the honeys tested had antifungal activities against FLU-resistant Candida species, ranging from 20% to 56.25% (v/v) and 25% to 56.25% (v/v) for minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and minimum fungicidal concentrations (MFCs), respectively. Honey "A" (MIC: 31.59%, v/v) showed higher anti-Candida activity than honey "B" (MIC: 35.99%, v/v) and honey "C" (MIC: 39.2%, v/v). No statistically significant differences were observed among the mean MIC values of the honey samples (P>0.05). The order of overall susceptibility of Candida species to honey samples were; C. krusei>C. glabrata>C. tropicalis>C. albicans (P>0.05). In addition, the mean MICs of Candida strains isolated from the nail, vagina and oral cavity were 33.68%, 36.44% and 39.89%, respectively, and were not significantly different (P>0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Overall, varying susceptibilities to the anti-Candida properties of different honeys were observed with four FLU-resistant species of Candida. Further research is needed to assess the efficacy of honey as an inhibitor of candidal growth in clinical trials.
Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Amol University of Special Modern Technologies, Imam Khomeini Street, 24th Aftab, Amol, Iran. Electronic address: hshokri@ausmt.ac.ir.
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H
Shokri
Mycology Research Center, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
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Sharifzadeh
D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002175:Candida / Q000187:drug effects; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000187:drug effects; D041221:Candida glabrata / Q000187:drug effects; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology*; D025141:Drug Resistance, Fungal / Q000187:drug effects*; D015725:Fluconazole / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology*; D006722:Honey / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests
D000935:Antifungal Agents; D015725:Fluconazole
Activité antifongique; Antifungal activity; Candida albicans; Candidiasis; Candidose; Fluconazole-resistant strains; Fluconazole-résistance; Honey; Miel