Antimicrobial Activities of Iraqi Propolis; An Invitro Study

Background: Propolis is a resinous substance collected by worker bees (Apis mellifera) from the bark of trees and leaves of plants. This salivary and enzymatic secretions-enriched material is used by bees to cover hive walls to ensure a hospital-clean environment. As a natural honeybee hive product, propolis extracts have been used both internally and externally for thousands of years as a healing agent in traditional medicine. Aims: This paper aimed in part to evaluate the antibacterial activity of propolis against ten bacterial pathogens. The active components of propolis were also investigated. Methods: Propolis samples were collected during spring and summer seasons, 2011. The antibacterial effects of propolis and active components of propolis against some Gram-positive isolates, Gram-negative isolates and yeast isolates. These organisms included local isolates represented by Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Listeria monocytogenes, Helicobacter pylori, Enterobacter aerugenes, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Candida albicans in addition to the standard strains represented by Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Salmonella typhi TY21. The local isolates were isolated from clinical cases and fully identified in our laboratory. Results: Antimicrobial activities of crude extract of Al-Museiab propolis (CEMP) and active components of propolis at 10, 20 and 30% concentration against bacterial isolates were studied. The results of agar diffusion showed that most bacterial isolates were sensitive to CEMP. Staphylococus aureus was highly sensitive to CEMP than other Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria with an inhibition zones of 30mm. diameter. All bacterial isolates were highly sensitive to the component of propolis showing maximum an inhibition zone of 30 mm at the 25% concentration. Conclusions: Propolis possesses considerable antimicrobial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria together with fungi presented by Candida albicans, accordingly propolis can be used for treatment of microbial infections as it appears to satisfy all of the criteria as antibacterial agents. is natural and safe for human use.