ANTIMICROBIAL EFFICACY OF Aloe vera JUICE AGAINST MULTI-ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT BACTERIA STRAINS IN ABEOKUTA, NIGERIA.

Rapid increasing emergence of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains is a growing problem and a threat to public health both in developed and developing nations of the world. Therefore, the antimicrobial efficacy of Aloe vera against multi-resistant bacteria isolates causing various bacteria infections was studied. The Aloe vera juice of 30uL/disc was prepared from a household garden in Abeokuta, Nigeria and commonly used antibiotic discs were tested against bacteria isolates by disc diffusion method. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and Minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of used antibiotics were determined. Minimum inhibitory dilution (MID) and minimum bactericidal dilution (MBD) of the Aloe vera juice were also determined and interpreted accordingly. Among the test isolates obtained from different clinical samples, Eschericial coli were 56.1%, K.oxytoca 19.8% and least proportion of 3.3% was Citrobacter spp. All the isolates showed 100% resistant to ceftriazone and nitrofurantoin, while 95.7% and 89.1% to cotrimoxazole and tetracycline respectively by disc diffusion test. All the isolates showed MIC > 16ug/ml to ceftriazone, nitrofurantoin and cotrimoxazole, while 62.7% and 69.3% to ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin respectively. All the isolates showed MBC > 64ug/ml to ceftriazone, nitrofurantoin, gentamycin and cotrimoxazole while 75.9% and 85.8% to ciprofloxacin and perfloxacin respectively. Of the total test isolates, 76.7% were susceptible to Aloe vera juice while 60% showed MIC > 6.25% and 46.7% indicate MBC > 25%. Aloe vera extract is effective against multi-resistant enteric bacteria isolates and will serve as a natural remedy for the treatment of prevailing infection caused by these bacteria strains.