PUBLIC HEALTH SIGNIFICANCE AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF PEPPER (CAPSICUM ANNUM) AND ONION (ALIUM CEPA) ON ISOLATES FROM URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS

Abstract

This study assessed the antimicrobial activities of aqueous extracts of Capsicum annum (pepper) and Allium cepa (onion) of 30 isolates of urinary tract infections. Isolation and identification of the bacteria species were carried out using standard microbiological and biochemical techniques. Kirby Bauer disc diffusion technique was employed for the antibiotic study using relevant Gram-positive and Gram-negative antibiotic discs. Zones of inhibition were compared with the guidelines set by the Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI). Percentage
prevalence showed that Escherichia coli (30%) had the highest occurrence followed by Proteus mirabilis (20%), Staphylococcus aureus (13%), Streptococcus sp. (12%), Bacillus sp. (8%), Citrobacter freundii (6%), Klebsiella pneumonia (6%) while the least dominant was Neisseria sp.
(5%).The antimicrobial effects of aqueous extract of pepper on the isolates showed that the highest zone of inhibition for all the isolates was at 100 mg/ml It was observed that virtually all the tested drugs showed high level of susceptibility to the bacterial isolates such as ciprofloxacin
(100%), pefloxacin (100%) and augmenting (100%) while the rest antibiotics were above 50% effectivity. The study also revealed that all tested antibiotics were equally susceptible to the Gram-negative bacteria isolates such as ciprofloxacin (100%), nefloxacin (100%), septrin (100%), rifampicin (100%), erythromycin (100%), augmentin (100%) and levofloxacin (100%). Thus, the findings suggest that aqueous extracts of onion and pepper at 100 mg/ml concentrations have antibiotic properties