Assessment of Antibacterial Activity of Garlic (Allium sativum L.): An in Vitro Study

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) has an important dietary and medicinal role for centuries. It is a large annual plant of the Liliaceae family, which is used in traditional medicine for infectious diseases. The present study was designed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of fresh extract of garlic. Five bacteria were chosen to study antibacterial activity of garlic. The zones of inhibition exhibited by the extract against Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp. and Proteus sp. were compared with the reference antibiotic chloramphenicol (1%). Antibacterial activity of the garlic extract against the tested bacteria was found significant (p less than 0.05). Results showed that garlic extract produced the highest susceptibility (mm) toward B. cereus. So, it was set up as the most sensitive bacteria, followed by S. aureus and E. coli. All these three bacteria showed greater potency than 1% chloramphenicol with high significances (p less than 0.05). The observation suggested that B. cereus was inhibited strongly by garlic when applied.