Evaluation of Antibacterial Activity between Medical Plant Extracts and Antibiotics against Bacterial Isolates from Tonsillitis

Objectives: Acute tonsillitis is an inflammatory process of tonsil tissue and is usually infectious. Acute tonsillitis starts suddenly and usually disappears within one to two weeks. This study aims to isolate bacteria from patients with infectious tonsillitis and determine the antibacterial activity of Mentha piperita L, Citrus aurantium, banana peel extract and antibiotics including penicillin, ampicillin, oxacillin, meropenem, tobramycin, gentamicin, levofloxacin, and clarithromycin against bacteria.

Methods: Were Collected 60 clinical samples of sputum and throat swabs from patients with tonsillitis admitted to AL-Furat Alawsait Hospital in Najaf. The samples were cultured in blood, MacConkey agar, and incubated at 37°C for 24 hours, and then the Vitek2 system was used for diagnosis to detect G + ve and G-ve bacteria.

Results: It was found that out of 60 sputum samples and throat swabs, 15 cases were gram positive bacteria, while 45 gram negative bacteria. As revealed by the in vitro agar well diffusion method, it was found that the aqueous extracts of these plants, especially Mentha piperita, have strong antibacterial activity against a variety of pathogens. The results show that Mentha is very effective at all concentrations used in this study (125, 250, 500, 1000) mg / ml in all bacteria isolated from tonsillitis. The zone of greatest inhibition of Mentha, Citrus anrantium and banana peel extract was 30, 28, 25 mm at concentrations of 1000 mg / ml respectively. Used eight selected antibiotics, including (penicillin, ampicillin, oxacillin, meropenem, tobramycin, gentamicin, levofloxacin, and clarithromycin). To shows the susceptibility of all bacteria isolates used in this study, the best antibiotics to sensitive for all bacteria (Meropenem and Levofloxacin ), while the resistance to oxacillin.

Conclusion: The selected commonly used aqueous extracts have been tested for their antibacterial activity against multi drug-resistant bacteria, and it is believed that their extracts can be used for multi drug-resistant bacteria that can cause nosocomial and community-acquired infections.