Abstract

Dr. Yasir Hakim*, Dalia Hamza, A.KH Khalil, Faiez Yousif, Abubaker Siddiq, Abdalla Khalid

ABSTRACT

The plant Aloe vera was used historically as a topical to heal wounds, various skin conditions and orally as a laxative. The Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is considered to be the most pathogenic species of the genus Staphylococcus, being implicated in both community-acquired and nosocomial infections. The present investigation was undertaken at the University of Gezira, Center of Plant Pathology, during the year 2018. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of Aloe vera on Staphylococcus aureus as antibacterial activity of aqueous and alcoholic extracts of Aloe vera on inhibiting the growth of the Staphylococcus aureus against a known Antibiotics (Gentamycin) as appositive control. Three concentrations of alcoholic extracts of Aloe vera and the Gentamycin, (25, 50 and 100%) were tested. The alcoholic suspensions of the dried Aloe vera extracts were screened for their anti-Staphylococcus aureus activity using the agar-disc diffusion method. The results obtained indicated that the different concentrations of alcoholic extract of Aloe vera at all its concentrations showed an inhibitory effect against the Staphylococcus aureus but The highest inhibition zone did not exceed 14.5 mm at the higher concentration (100 %). However, the other concentrations (25 and 50 %) showed inhibition zones of 5.9 and 9.4 mm, respectively. For the positive control (Gentamycin), the highest inhibition zone 16.5 mm was obtained with the higher concentration (100 %). The other concentrations (25 and 50 % showed inhibition zones of 7.75 and 6 mm, respectively. The study recommended that, further research should be done to clearly identify the active ingredients of Aloe vera and their other antimicrobial activities.