Geospatial Investigation of Nigerian Honey and Detection of Anti-Enteric Biomarker

Geospatial mapping and antibacterial biomarkers were investigated in Nigerian honey used for therapeutic purposes in several communities affected with prevalent antibiotic-resistant enteric bacilli. Randomly collected enteric bacilli from faecal samples were biotyped and phenotypically assayed for antibiotic resistance and profiled for R plasmids. R plasmid molecular weight and multiantibiotic resistance index (MARI) relatedness were evaluated for resistance among phylogroups. Honey cidal activity, time kill kinetics, and bioactive markers were determined and analysed for geospatial distribution. More than 30% enteric biotypes were resistant to cotrimoxazole, ciprofloxacin, and tetracycline at MIC ≥16 μg/ml (P=0.004). Two unrelated cluster complexes with diverse antibiotic resistance indices expressed high molecular weight plasmid (14.17 kbp) with 0.73 MARI to two classes of antibiotics. Among the resistant bacilli, only 24.3% (MIC(90) 500 mg/mL) and 8.1% (MBC(90) 1000 mg/mL) were susceptible to honey with evidence of 14.85% and 5.94% significant viable reduction at 2 × MIC to less than 2.50 Log(10) CFU/mL (P < 0.05). Only alkaloids significantly regressed (P=0.028) with susceptibility of resistant bacilli significantly correlate with bacteria inhibition (r = 0.534, P=0.049) at optimal cutoff limit of 0.32 mg/ml. Antibacterial honey with significant alkaloid biomarkers was detected at 3°10′0–3°30′0E and 6°30′0–7°30′0N of Southwest Nigeria. Spatial mapping evidently indicated variation in honey physicochemical and bioactive compounds and identified geographical locations suitable for production of anti-enteric honey rich in alkaloids marker required for prevention and treatment of resistant enteric bacilli infections.