The objective of this work was to evaluate the potency of bee product-immunized rats to overcome an induced
Staphylococcus aureus infection. Forty rats were divided to eight groups: T1, T3, and T5 received, respectively, fennel honey,
ethanol, and aqueous propolis extracts orally, and T2, T4, and T6 were administered the respective materials intraperitoneally;
T7 received bee venom by the bee sting technique; and T8 was the control group. All groups were challenged by a bovine
clinical mastitis isolate of S. aureus. Each rat received 2mL of broth inoculated with 1
105 colony-forming units=mL
intraperitoneally. Two weeks post-induced infection all rats were sacrificed and eviscerated for postmortem inspection and
histopathological study. Three rats from T8 and one rat from T7 died before sacrifice. Another two rats, one each in T4 and
T5, had morbidity manifestations. The remaining experimental animals showed apparently healthy conditions until time of
sacrifice. Postmortem inspection revealed that all T8 rats showed different degrees of skeletal muscle and internal organ
paleness with scattered focal pus nodules mainly on lungs and livers. All rats of the treated groups showed normal postmortem
features except three rats. A dead rat in group T7 showed focal pus nodules on the lung surface only, whereas the affected two
rats in groups T4 and T5 appeared normal except with some pus nodules, but much smaller than in the control, scattered on the
hepatic surface and mesentery. Histopathological studies revealed that T8 rats had typical suppurative bronchopneumonia and
or severe degenerative and necrobiotic changes in hepatic tissues. Three affected rats of the treated groups showed slight
bronchopneumonia or degenerative hepatic changes only. The other animals of the treated groups showed completely normal
parenchymatous organs with stimulated lymphatic tissues. It was concluded that all tested previously bee product-immunized
rats could significantly challenge the induced S. aureus infection (P<.01). The effects were more pronounced in rats that had
had received fennel honey solution.