Bee venom is a complex mixture of enzymes, polypeptides, amino acids, and sugars. Traditional Chinese medicine uses bee venom acupuncture to treat arthritis and pain. However, the components of bee venom are the subject of biomedical research for their potential painkiller, antithrombotic, and antibiotic properties. The polypeptide melittin makes up 40-60 percent of the dry weight of bee venom and causes the pain of bee stings. Apamin, which makes up 2-3 percent of bee venom dry weight, is a neurotoxin that inhibits Ca++ -activated K+ channels in the central nervous system. It is used in biomedical research to study how these channels work.
In South Korea, manufacturers put bee venom extracts into skin care products, citing the benefits of traditional medicine. Consumers who use these products have inadvertently found an antifungal effect.
Recently, Park et al. investigated the antifungal properties of bee venom. The experimenters prepared cultures of Trichophyton rubrum, the pathogen responsible for athlete’s foot and jock itch, on potato dextrose cornmeal agar plates. They exposed each culture to one of four different treatments: raw bee venom, a commercial bee-venom-based skincare product, apamin, or melittin. They let each T. rubrum culture grow for two weeks.
Every two days, the experimenters calculated the growth rate of each T. rubrum culture. They found that melittin and apamin do not inhibit T. rubrumgrowth, but raw bee venom and the skincare product do inhibit growth. They conclude that bee venom does have antifungal potential, but neither melittin nor apamin can inhibit fungus alone. Bee venom will need more investigation before it can see clinical use.
Park J, Kwon O, An HJ, Park KK. Antifungal Effects of Bee Venom Components on Trichophyton rubrum: A Novel Approach of Bee Venom Study for Possible Emerging Antifungal Agent. (2018). Annals of Dermatology 30:2. doi: 10.5021/ad.2018.30.2.202.