Antibacterial activity of an aqueous extracts of Alkanna tinctoria roots against drug resistant aerobic pathogenic bacteria isolated from patients with burns infections

Objective ― Alkanna tinctoria (A. tinctoria) which is one of the most important medical plants worldwide, has been reported to have antimicrobial activities against some gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Material and Methods ― To investigate the ability of four different concentrations of cold-water and hot-water extracts of A. tinctoria roots to inhibit growth of 395 isolates of drug resistance bacteria isolated from patients with burns infections during the period of June 2015 to June 2016 in Iraq. Evaluation of A.tinctoria roots aqueous extract antibacterial activity (cold and boiling water) was done by use of agar well diffusion method. Results ― The results proved that out of 395 total bacterial isolates there were 321 (81.3%), 37 (9.4%) and 11 (2.8%) isolates with multidrug resistance (MDR), extensive drug resistance (XDR) and pan-drug resistance (PDR), respectively. Also, the results revealed that 300 mg/ml of the hot-water extract was the best effective inhibitor of the growth, it’s inhibited growth of all MDR, XDR and PDR bacteria, the inhibition zone diameter for Pseudomonas aeruginosa (132 strains), Klebsiella pneumoniae (99 strains), methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (72 strains), methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (41 strains), Escherichia coli (32 strains), Acinetobacter baumannii (11 strains) and Proteus ssp. (8 strains) were 28.44±0.11 mm, 28.46±0.25 mm, 28.53±0.24 mm, 28.37±0.12 mm, 27.88±0.09 mm, 28.001±0.001mm, and 27.59±0.23 mm, respectively. All inhibition zones diameter were not significantly different (P>0.05) from that for imipenem 10 mg, chosen as positive control. Conclusion ― From the overall results obtained it is evident that the hot-water extract (300 mg/ml) of A. tinctoria roots has excellent antibacterial activity against bacteria associated with burns infections. A. tinctoria roots may be considered as a raw material for the manufacture of ointment for treatment of burns infections.