Journal of Ethnopharmacology 64 (1999) 235 – 240 Antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral activity of propolis of different geographic origin A. Kujumgiev a , I. Tsvetkova a , Yu. Serkedjieva a , V. Bankova b, *, R. Christov b , S. Popov b a Institute of Microbiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria b Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria Received 26 February 1998; received in revised form 14 July 1998; accepted 21 July 1998 Abstract Propolis samples from different geographic origins were investigated for their antibacterial (against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli ), antifungal (against Candida albicans ) and antiviral (against Avian influenza virus) activities. All samples were active against the fungal and Gram-positive bacterial test strains, and most showed antiviral activity. The activities of all samples were similar in spite of the differences in their chemical composition. In samples from the temperate zone, flavonoids and esters of phenolic acids are known to be responsible for the above mentioned activities of bee glue; tropical samples did not contain such substances but showed similar activities. Obviously, in different samples, different substance combinations are essential for the biological activity of the bee glue. It seems that propolis has general pharmacological value as a natural mixture and not as a source of new powerful antimicrobial, antifungal and antiviral compounds. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Propolis; Antibacterial activity; Antifungal activity; Antiviral activity 1. Introduction Propolis (bee glue) is a resinous or sometimes wax-like bee hive product that has been used by man since ancient times for its pharmaceutical properties. It is still used as a remedy in folk medicine (Ghisalberti, 1979), as a constituent of ‘bio-cosmetics’, ‘health foods’ and for numerous other purposes (Matsuda, 1994; Wollenweber and Buchmann, 1997). Bees use this material to seal hive walls and its entrance, to strengthen the border of the combs, and embalm dead invaders. The antibacterial and antifungal activities are the most popular and among the most extensively investigated biological actions of propolis (Mar- cucci, 1995). There are literature data about an- * Corresponding author. 0378-8741/99/$ - see front matter © 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0378-8741(98)00131-7