RESUMO
Objective:The antimicrobial activity of the ethanol extract of the Auklandia (Saussurea lappa) root plant was investigated to verify its medicinal use in the treatment of microbial infections. Methods:The antimicrobial activity of the ethanol extract was tested against clinical isolates of some multidrug-resistant bacteria using the agar well diffusion method. Commercial antibiotics were used as positive reference standards to determine the sensitivity of the clinical isolates. Results:The extracts showed significant inhibitory activity against clinical isolates of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactemase, Acinetobacter baumannii. The minimum inhibitory concentration values obtained using the agar dilution test ranged from 2.0 μg/μL-12.0 μg/μL. In the contrary the water extract showed no activity at all against the tested isolates. Furthermore, the results obtained by examining anti-resistant activity of the plant ethanolic extract showed that at higher concentration of the plant extract (12 μg) all tested bacteria isolates were inhibited with variable inhibition zones similar to those obtained when we applied lower extract concentration using the well diffusion assay. Conclusion:The results demonstrated that the crude ethanolic extract of the Auklandia (Saussurea lappa) root plant has a wide spectrum of activity suggesting that it may be useful in the treatment of infections caused by the above clinical isolates (human pathogens).