Unveiling the potency: Antibacterial activities of four plants’ extracts against isolated bacteria from burn wounds

Antimicrobial resistance has emerged as a truly serious issue. Motivating the scientific community to explore natural compounds as alternative treatments for infections, with a focus on plant-derived antimicrobials.

The extract of following plants (Pelargonium graveolens, Centaurea hyalolepis, Rosa damascena, Portulaca olereaca) was tested for antibacterial activity.

The bacterial specimens were collected from the Burns unit of Al-Mouwasat university hospital, and isolated by biochemical tests and morphological properties. The herbal ethanolic extracts were prepared by Soxhlet apparatus, and MICs were performed by macrodilution method.

We detected five main bacterial strains (Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermis, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli) from the collected specimens. The results were variable: P. graveolens showed lowest MIC for S. aureus (62.5μg/ml). P.graveolens and C. hyalolepis had lowest MIC for S. epidermis (31.25μg/ml). The previous extracts showed equal MIC against E. coli (62.5μg/ml), except P. olereaca had MIC 125μg/m, While C. hyalolepis, R. damascena had less MIC (62.5μg/ml) against P. aeruginosa. Finally, C. hyalolepis was most effective against K. pneumonia and the MIC was (62.5μg/ml).

The results indicate moderate antibacterial activity against bacterial strains, suggesting that these plants could help us develop new medications for healing burns, in addition to their skin regenerative properties.