Antimicrobial Activity of Some Medicinal Plants from Malaysia

Abstract

Problem statement: About 32 extracts from eight selected medicinal plants, n amely Pereskia bleo , Pereskia grandifolia , Curcuma aeruginosa Roxb., Curcuma zedoria , Curcuma mangga , Curcuma inodora aff. Blatter , Zingiber officinale var. officinale (jahe gajah) and Zingiber officinale var. rubrum (jahe emprit) used by Malaysia traditional health c are systems were screened for their antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive b acteria and Gram-negative bacteria using agar disc diffusion assay. Approach: The efficacy of the extracts was compared to the co mmercially prepared antibiotic diffusion discs. Results: No inhibition was observed with the water fractions . Conclusion/Recommendations: None of the plants tested showed inhibition agains t Escherichia coli . Curcuma mangga showed some remarked inhibition against the bacter ia used in this study.