In vitro Assessment of the Antibacterial Activity of Matricaria chamomile Alcoholic Extract against Pathogenic Bacterial Strains

Abstract

An alarming increasing in the occurrences of antimicrobial resistance inside the existing clinical use and so the recent appearance of multidrug resistant bacteria that attempts the treatment of infections necessities to find out novel antimicrobial agents. In the attendance of Chamomile there is quite a lot of information on various studies concerning the antibacterial effects of this herb and fractioned bioassay conducted with the consent of energetic standards. Chamomile powder (Matricaria chamomilla L.) was purchased from private pharmacies. Fifty grams of chamomile powder was extracted with 250 ml 10% ethanol by soxhelt device at 45Ċ. In vitro determination of antibacterial activity of alcoholic extract of Matricaria chamomilla was done. The chamomile alcoholic extract showed higher action against Klebsiella pneumoniae (35±1.57 mm) inhibition zone Original Research Article Alkuraishy et al.; BMRJ, 7(2): 55-61, 2015; Article no.BMRJ.2015.095 56 and lower effect alongside Enterococcus faecalis (10±1.43 mm), but all the results were significant because inhibition values were near the result of active control. MIC values of chamomile alcoholic extract near values of tetracycline mainly against Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. While MBC values of the chamomile alcoholic extract were in corresponding with tetracycline values similar to MIC, except that chamomile produced less corresponding values with tetracycline against Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Conclusion Chamomile possesses significant and potent antibacterial activity against various bacterial strains like Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae.