Exploration of entomotherapeutic potential of bees’ products and termite nests from Burkina Faso

In Burkina Faso, products and nests of insect are used for therapeutic purposes in traditional medicine. However, this use by local populations is marginal and empirical. The objective of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of extracts of bees’ products and termite nests. Thus, the collected termite nests were finely ground. Hydroethanolic extraction of bioactive molecules with potential antibacterial activity was performed according to standard methods. The agar diffusion method was used to test the antibacterial activity of hydroethanolic extracts of honey bee, bee wax, propolis, and termite nests against 22 pathogenic strains by inhibition diameter. Imipenem and nystatin were used as a positive control for bacterial and fungal strains respectively. The extraction yields varied from 7.33 to 35.39% depending on the content of soluble matter. All extracts of bees’ products and termite nests tested showed inhibitory activities. The inhibition diameters varied depending on the extract and strain tested. The largest diameter of inhibition (26 ± 0.0 mm) was obtained using the nest extract of Macrotermes bellicosus against Salmonella Typhimurium ATCC14028. The lowest diameter of inhibition was 7 ± 0.0 mm obtained with honey extract against Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC27853. Index multi-resistance of the extracts tested were between 0.2 and 0.6. Interestingly, the inhibition diameters and activity coefficient of certain products and nest extracts of insects were sometimes greater than those of imipenem/nystatin against the strains tested. This study revealed the antimicrobial potential of termite nest extracts and hive products against pathogens.