ABSTRACT
Aim: The present study evaluates the antimicrobial activity of different samples of honey produced in Guyana and a comparison of their effectiveness with conventional antibiotics. Methods: A disk diffusion method was used to assess the activity of honey against microbial pathogens. The honeys were tested at different concentrations ranging from 100%, 50%, 25% and 1%. Results: The study showed that honey H2 was most effective on Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, while honey H3 was most effective on Staphylococcus aureus. Effective concentration for H1, H2 and H3 were 1%, 25% and 25% & 50% respectively. Conclusions: The study showed that honey has antibacterial activity (bacteriostatic and bactericidal effect), similar to antibiotics, against test organisms and provides alternative therapy against certain bacteria.
ABSTRACT
More than a century after John Snow identified a hand pump in Broad Street, London as the Primary source of cholera epidemic, then raging through the areas, supply of safe water and providing human excreta disposal facilities to all, still remain illusive targets in most communities in India, particularly in rural areas. Today the urban population of the country is at the interface of the process of development and environmental degradation, concurrently the rural population continues to suffer from lack of sanitation and safe drinking water, malnutrition and ecological insecurity. Ecological degradation brings in its wake, poverty and ill health and they combine to jeopardize the productivity of the country. Unfortunately, however, the costs of their health impact were never considered seriously by the economic planners