Abstract:
Herbal medicines have been widely used all over the world since ancient times and have been recognized by physicians and patients for their better therapeutic value as they have fewer adverse effects as comparedwith modern medicines. This is experimental study aimed to determine the antimicrobial activity of water and methanolic extracts of Zingiber officinale roots and Citrus limon peels using agar disk-diffusion method. The study was conducted in Khartoum state, Sudan, during February to October 2019. Hundred clinical isolates from urine specimens were collected from different hospitals. The clinical isolates were subcultured in Cysteine Lactose Electrolyte Deficient (CLED) agar and then reidentified using Gram's stain and biochemical reactions.The plant extractions was carried out using Soxhlet extraction method for methanolic extracts and maceration (cold) extraction method for water extracts of both plants. The identified species were 79(79%) Gram'snegative bacilli include:Escherichia coli 37 (37%), followed by Proteus vulgaris 21 (21%), Klebsiella pneumoniae 13(13%), Pseudomonasaeruginosa 8 (8%). While Gram'spositive cocci were 21 (21%) isolates, they areEnterococcus faecalis 18(18%) and 3 Staphylococcusaureus isolates (3%).Susceptibility testing was performed using standard and clinical isolates against number of antibiotics, the result showed that the highest percentage of resistant was against Co-Amoxiclav (69%) followed by Nalidixic acid (50%).Only the isolated bacteria which was multidrug resistant, they were tested for their sensitivity to Zingiber officinale and Citrus limon. They were distributed as follow: Escherichia coli 18/37 (48.6%), Proteus vulgaris were 12/21 (57.1%), Klebsiella pneumoniae 8/13 (61.5%) andPseudomonas aeruginosa 8/8 (100%).The study concluded that, the aqueous and methanolic extracts of Zingiber officinale showed activity against multidrug resistant Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia andPseudomonas aeruginosa. While the methanolic and water extract of Citrus limon showed activity against multidrug resistant proteus vulgaris, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia andPseudomonas aeruginosa.The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of both methanolic and water extracts of Zingiber officinale was 50 mg/ml for Escherichia coli, 3.125mg/ml for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, while Klebsiella pneumonia was (25 and 50) mg/ml for methanolic and water respectively. The MIC for both methanolic and water extracts of Citrus limon was 3.125mg/ml for all tested isolates.
