Bacteria, particularly those common in health care settings, have been developing mechanisms making them resistant to prevailing antibiotics. Consequently, bacterial infections occurring in hospitals are becoming very difficult to treat because available antibiotics are becoming ineffective to inhibit the bacterial growth. These drug resistant pathogens, which can be both gram-positive and gram-negative, can cause infections that can risk lives of affected people. The present research focused on the bacterium, Vibrio vulnificus, which is known to cause infections in health care settings. Before the discovery of antibiotics, people relied on natural remedies such as essential oils to treat bacterial infections. In this research, several commonly used essential oils were tested against Vibrio vulnificus to determine their effectiveness to inhibit its growth. We used the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method and measured the diameter of the zone of inhibition for the bacterium when treated with the individual compounds. Cinnamon, wintergreen, lemongrass, and methylglyoxal (major component of Manuka Honey) showed the most antibacterial properties. In addition to investigating the antibacterial activity of these essential oils, this study included experiments to find suitable carriers for these compounds so that the combination could be used as topical applications on the patients to treat the bacterial infections. Lanolin and Aloe Vera were found to be effective carriers to produce emollients with the three essential oils and methylglyoxal. Most of the compounds tested were observed to have antibacterial activity when individually combined with Lanolin and Aloe Vera even at concentration of 12.5% (v/v). The results of these experiments and other published work on the topic suggest a cost-effective way to deal with the bacterial infections using the essential oils and methylglyoxal incorporated in lanolin and Aloe Vera.

Using essential oils to combat the threat of multidrug resistant bacteria

249th National Meeting (2015)

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