ABSTRACT
Plants have been used as valuable sources of natural products for maintaining animal and human health. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial activity of Aloe barbadensis Miller(Aloe vera) gel extract on two Gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus) and two Gram negative(Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria. Antibiotic susceptibility test was carried out using the Agar well diffusion method on prepared media. Extracts concentration of 5mg/ml, 10mg/ml, 15mg/ml, 20mg/ml, 25mg/ml and 30mg/ml and commercial antibiotics which include: perfloxacin, gentamycin, ampiclox, zinnacof, chloramphenicol, augmentin, amoxacillin, rocephin, ciprofloxacin, streptomycin, septrin, ampicillin, sparfloxacin, tarivid and erythromycin were used. The results for the antibacterial susceptibility test showed that at various concentrations the bacterial isolates were inhibited by the Aloe vera gel extracts at all concentrations. The result also showed that Staphylococcus aureus was susceptible to all the antibiotics used on it namely: perfloxacin, gentamycin, amplicox, zinnacof, amoxacilin, rocephin, ciprofloxacin, streptomycin, septrin and erythromycin. Bacillus cereus was resistant to septrin, amoxacilin, ampiclox, zinnacof, rocephin and perfloxacin; susceptible to gentamycin, streptomycin and erythromycin. Escherichia coli showed resistance to sparfloxacin, amoxacillin (30ug), augmentin (10ug), perfloxacin and tarivid; susceptible to septrin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, gentamycin and perfloxacin. Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed resistance to amoxacillin and augmentin; susceptible to septrin, chloramphenicol, sparfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, gentamycin, perfloxacin, tarivid and streptomycin. The results revealed that Aloe vera gel extract was effective against the test isolates even without the addition of Ethanol or Methanol extracts. This proves that Aloe vera has antibacterial property and its implementation medically for the treatment of bacterial infections especially at higher concentration is strongly recommended.
