In-vitro antibacterial activity of herbal aqueous extract against multi-drug resistant Klebsiella sp. isolated from human clinical samples

The studies were carried out to evaluate antibacterial activity of 35 aqueous herbal extracts against a total of 20 clinical Klebshiella sp. isolates. The maximum antibacterial activity was found as 90% in crude extracts of Syzygium aromaticum (leaf) and Citrus limon L. (fruit) followed by 85% in Spondias pinnata (leaf). Sensitivity of these isolates was also evaluated for eight commercial antibiotic discs following disc diffusion assay where most of the isolates found to develop resistance against multiple commercial antibiotics. 85% of isolates exhibited resistant to chloramphenicol and erythromycin and 80% were resiatant to sulfamethoxazole and cephradine. The isolates showed their resistance between 55-60 % to the other four antibiotic discs, viz; gentamycin, streptomycin, ciprofloxacin and azithromycin. Among 35 herbal extracts tested, 19 herbal extrats were found to possess antimicrobial activity in all multi-drug resistant isolates. Therefore these herbal extracts could be used in future direction as alternative therapeutic agents for the treatment of human diseases caused by Klebsiella sp. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/icpj.v1i6.10534 International Current Pharmaceutical Journal 2012, 1(6): 133-137