Synergistic Potential Sof Cinnamon Extracts, Antibiotics, and Alum on Selected Clinical Microbes

Antibiotics are natural or synthetic substances used to inhibit or kill susceptible microorganisms. Due to the increase rate of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, there is the need to venture in other methods involving the coalescence effect of antibiotics and other substances such as cinnamon and alum to effectively eradicate these pathogenic organisms using less concentrated conventional antibiotics. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the selected antimicrobial agents were determined using the broth dilution method, following standards and procedures set by the national council of clinical laboratory standards (NCCLS). The synergistic potentials of all the antimicrobics used were analyzed by the checkerboard assay. The MIC values of 25, 0.25, 0.75,25mg/ml were obtained for cinnamon extracts, gentamicin, penicillin G, and aq. Alum respectively against S. aureus. For E. coli O157H:H7, the MIC values of cinnamon extracts, gentamicin, penicillin G, and aq. Alum were 12.5, 0.25, 0.75 and 25mg/ml respectively,s while the MIC values of cinnamon extracts alum and fluconazole for C. albicans were 12.5, 25 and 0.05mg/ml respectively. There is a reduction in the MIC values for the various combinations against the same clinical microbes. All the antimicrobics used in this study inhibited the growth of the clinical microbes. All the microbes used in this study inhibited the tested microbes in dose dependent manner. The combinations of these agents resulted in reduction in MIC and MBC values, with an additive, indifference, and antagonistic effects using checkerboard assay which resulted to a fractional inhibitory concentration index which ranged from 0.56 to 7.9. Therefore, application of cinnamon, alum, and their combinations with conventional antibiotics can be used as treatment measure against infections caused by S. aureus, E. coli O157H:H7, and C. albicans.