ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF ETHANOLIC PLANT EXTRACTS ON MULTIDRUG RESISTANT ACINETOBACTER BAUMANNII CLINICAL ISOLATES

Acinetobacter baumannii is one of the most important human pathogen frequently recovered from different clinical samples and responsible for nosocomial infections. A. baumannii contains a repertoire of antibiotic resistance mechanisms including drug modification enzymes, alteration of target sites, efflux pumps and others. There are increasing reports of infections caused by MDR A. baumannii, which limits the availability of suitable antibiotics. The present study evaluates the Anti-Acinetobacter activity of different plant extracts. The ethanolic extract of 10 different plant materials was screened by agar-well diffusion method and the minimal inhibitory concentration was also determined using broth-macrodilution technique against 15 clinical MDR A. baumannii isolates. Our results show that the ethanolic extract of Piper betle L. (Betel leaf) has a very strong anti-bacterial activity against MDR Acinetobacter baumannii strains, producing a mean zone of inhibition of 31.33 mm +/- 1.799 and MIC90 of 16 mu g/ml. The ethanolic extract of garlic also exhibited considerable effect against few isolates, producing zone of inhibition ranges from 9-13 mm and the MIC90 was 32 mu g/ml. However, the ethanolic extract of the remaining plant materials did not show any antibacterial activity against the tested strains. These results suggest that ethanolic extract of Piper betle L. leaf can be a suitable alternative or adjunct for the treatment of MDR A. baumannii infections.