1Department of Microbiology, P.M.B. Gujarati Science College, Indore, pritivyas@rediffmail.com
2Applied Microbiology Laboratory, School of Life Science, Devi Ahilya University, Takshashila Campus, Khandwa Road, Indore-452 001, profspatil@yahoo.co.uk
The antimicrobial activity of essential oils of 14 medicinal plants was determined against 11 multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens. Except Pseudomonas aeruginosa, all pathogens tested were gram-negative rods and members of enterobacteriaceae. The antimicrobial activity of tested essential oils were found to be different for different species of the same genera of pathogens. It was observed that most pathogenic and most common species like Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus vulgaris were found to be least inhibited by these oils. Rare and less pathogenic species were more sensitive towards the oils. Use of essential oils is suggested to control these multidrug resistant pathogens.
MDR pathogens, essential oils, antimicrobial activity, medicinal plants, gram-negative
