Bioactivity of Essential Oils against Multi-Drug Resistant Bacteria from Clinical Samples

Spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria is most frequently seen in clinics leading to prolonged hospitalization, treatment failures and often high mortality rates. This has necessitated the search for alternative agents that may have antibacterial effect such as essential oils. These are complex natural mixtures isolated by steam distillation and have been traditionally used for treatment of acne inflammation. Aspirin, digoxin, morphine are few examples of drugs discovered from plant extracts.Objectives: To determine the bioactivity of essential oils against multidrug resistant bacteria from clinical samples. Methods: Nine clinical isolates were isolated from patients without duplicates. Bacterial isolates were identified and characterized by use of morphological, cultural, biochemical and antibiotic sensitivity patterns. Results: All nine different clinical isolates were multi drug resistant with 100%, 50% and 30% of isolate resistant to erythromycin, cloxacillin, ampicillin, neomycin, gentamycin and rifampicin respectively. Essential oils showed antibacterial activity against all 9 clinical isolates. Conclusion: Essential oils have proved to have antimicrobial potential against the multidrug resistant bacteria and this has led to their use in therapeutic treatment. High polar solvents are more effective. Keywords: Wound isolates, multidrug resistant, essential oils, antibiotic