Fatma Sonbol, Tarek El- Banna, Ahmed Abd El-Aziz and Nermin Gouda
The in vitro activities of 18 natural oils and 14 antimicrobial agents against 72 Acinetobacter isolates isolated from 1000 patients in Aswan University hospital over 18 months obtained from urine cultures, burn swabs, sputum, wound swabs and endotracheal swabs were studied. MICs were determined by an Agar dilution method. The antimicrobial activity of plant oils has been recognized for many years. However, few investigations have compared large numbers of oils using methods that are directly comparable. In the present study, 18 plant oils were investigated for activity against Acinetobacter isolates, using an agar dilution method. Cinnamon, thyme, tea tree, rosemerry, peppermint, clove and lavender, inhibited all organisms at concentrations of ≤ 6 mg/ml. Four oils did not inhibit any organisms at the highest concentration, which was 6 mg/ml oil for tea, camphor, caraway and Nigella staive. Variable activity was recorded for the remaining oils. These results support the notion that plant essential oils and extracts may have a role as pharmaceuticals and preservatives.
Good activity against Acinetobacter isolates was demonstrated for imipenem, amikacin, and ciprofloxacin. Most of isolates were susceptible to imipenem, ciprofloxacin, expanded-spectrum cephalosporins, amoxicillin-clavulanate, and the aminoglycosides but were resistant to ampicillin and older cephalosporins.