Antibacterial effect of aqueous extract of aloe vera against the gram-positive bacteria staphylococcus aureus in medani city - gezira state – sudan- 2017

The plant Aloe vera was used historically as a topical to heal wounds, various skin conditions and orally as a laxative. The Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is considered to be the most pathogenic species of the genus Staphylococcus, being implicated in both community-acquired and nosocomial infections. The present investigation was undertaken at the University of Gezira, Center of Plant Pathology, during the year 2015. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of Aloe vera on Staphylococcus aureus as antibacterial activity of aqueous and alcoholic extracts of Aloe vera on inhibiting the growth of the Staphylococcus aureus against a known Antibiotics (Gentamycin) as appositive control. Three concentrations of aqueous extract of Aloe vera and the Gentamycin , (25, 50 and 100%) were tested. The aqueous suspensions of the dried Aloe vera extracts were screened for their anti-Staphylococcus aureus activity using the agar-disc diffusion method. The results obtained indicated that the highest concentration of Aloe vera aqueous extract (100%) used in this study had the highest inhibitory effects (18.2 mm) against the tested bacterium, while the other two concentrations (50 % and 25%) showed an inhibition zones of 15 mm and 12 mm, respectively. For the positive control (Gentamycin), the highest inhibition zone 16.5 mm was obtained with the higher concentration (100 %). The other concentrations (25 and 50 % showed inhibition zones of 7.75 and 6 mm, respectively. The study recommended that, further research should be done to clearly identify the active ingredients of Aloe vera and their other antimicrobial activities.