Abstract

Long before mankind discovered the existence of microbes, the idea that certain plants had healing potential, indeed, that they contained what we would currently characterize as antimicrobial principles, was well accepted. Since antiquity, man has used plants to treat common infectious diseases and some of these traditional medicines are still included as part of the habitual treatment of various maladies. This study was carried out to determine the phytochemical composition and the antibacterial activity of Salvia rosmarinus on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. 100 g of dry powder was macerated by soaking it in 500 ml of 80% methanol. Phytochemical screening was done using documented standard phytochemical screening procedures and the antibacterial Susceptibility Testing was done against E. coli and S. aureus using the Agar well diffusion method. The results obtained showed that the methanol extract of Salvia rosmarinus leaves had antibacterial activity on gram positive Staphylococcus aureus and gram negative Escherichia coli. The results also showed that the extract was more active on E. coli than on S. aureus. This was an encouraging result and this indicates that the methanolic extract of Salvia rosmarinus leaves might be exploited as a natural antibiotic for the treatment of infections caused by these two pathogenic organisms, namely, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.

Keywords: Phytochemicals, Rosemary extract, Antibacterial activity, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcuss aureus