Abstract

The threat posed by resistant bacteria against a wild range of antibiotics is disturbing. Looking inwards for alternatives from medicinal plants have become imperative. Aloe vera has a long history of medicinal use, therefore the research investigated the antibacterial potential of the rind. Macerated Aloe barbadensis rind were soak each in methanol, ethanol, acetone, hot and cold water as raw (100mg/ml) and then in reducing concentration of 50, 20, 10 and 5mg/ml for 24hours. The extracts were filtered with sterile muslin cloth, concentrated by evaporation and stored for use. Susceptibility testing with the extracts was carried out by re-suspending the extracts in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Twenty milliliters of sterile Mueller Hinton 2 agar was inoculated with 0.5ml of bacterial suspension of Pseudomonas aeruginosa 02, 05, 06 Escherichia coli 0139428 and Staphylococcus aureus held in a 4 hour grown Mueller Hinton broth equivalent to 105-106 cfu/ml of McFarland standard. Six millimeter holes were bored on the agar after solidification. The wells were inoculated with 0.3ml of the Aloe barbadensis rind extracts and allowed to be completely absorbed into the agar. The plates were incubated