Evaluation of Antimicrobial activity of Moringa oleifera Leaf extracts against Pathogenic bacteria Isolated from Urinary tract infected Patients

Antibiotic resistance has increased substantially in recent years and is posing an ever-increasing therapeutic problem. One of the methods to reduce the resistance to antibiotics is by using antibiotic resistance inhibitors from plants. The aim of this study is to evaluate the antibacterial properties of aqueous, petroleum ether and methanolic leaf extracts of Moringa oleifera plant against pathogenic bacteria isolated from urinary tract infected patients and five standard strains of American type culture collection. The antibacterial activity of Moringa oleifera leaf extracts was determined in vitro, using Cup plate method, and compared with sensitivity testing of some antibiotic agents using disc diffusion method. The results obtained showed that all concentration of methanolic extracts of Moringa oleifera had high inhibitory effects on S. aureus ATCC25923, K. pneumoniae ATCC35637 standard strains and the S. aureus, S. saprophyticus and E.coli isolated from UTI. The three concentration of water extract had inhibitory effects only on Proteus vulgaris NCTC8196 strain. The petroleum ether extracts showed no inhibitory activity on any organism. These results were compared with standard antibiotics Amikacin, Ciprofloxacin, and Norfloxacin which showed moderate sensitivity against S. aureus and Amikacin was completely resistant to K. pneumoniae isolated from UTI. These results provide valuable information that Moringa oleifera hold great promise as highly effective antibacterial agents.