Journal of Microbial Pathogenesis

Identification and Determination of Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations of Plant Extracts having Antimicrobial Activity as Potential Alternative Therapeutics to Treat Aeromonas hydrophila Infections

Abstract

Grace Ramena*, Yathish Ramena and Nitin Challa

Aeromonas hydrophila causes infections in wide range of organisms including humans. It causes serious and life threatening lethal infections in humans. Motile aeromonas septicemia causes huge economic loss to fish farmers. Antibiotic use and abuse is a huge problem that is environmentally lethal, leading to antibiotic resistance and difficulty in treating bacterial infections. There is always a need to find new and safe alternatives to antibiotics to deal with bacterial infections. In this study we have evaluated 11 herb and spice extracts for their antimicrobial activity against Aeromonas hydrophila and compared their activity with commercially available antibiotic to treat this disease. We found that clove and cinnamon methanol extracts had significantly higher antibacterial effect against A. hydrophila when compared to oxytetracycline and other extracts. Both the extracts have higher activity at the lowest concentration tested (5 mg) and can potentially serve as alternative therapeutics to A. hydrophila infections in humans as well as fish.