Honey from Australia's stingless bees halts drug-resistant bacteria

University of Sydney researchers tested honey and propolis from Tetragonula carbonaria, a native stingless 'sugarbag' bee long used in Indigenous medicine, against 16 bacterial and fungal pathogens. The honey stopped every bacterium tested, including hard-to-treat hospital germs Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and matched medical-grade Manuka and Jarrah honeys in strength. The findings appear in PLOS One.