Hazem Sawalha
Arab American University, Palestine
Title: Using phytomedicine for controlling human bacterial diseases in Palestinian territories
Biography
Biography: Hazem Sawalha
Abstract
Phytomedicine which is known also as the herbal medicine uses various plant materials in preventive, therapeutic processes and healing properties. Such medicine has been practiced worldwide since the ancient times for the prevention and treatment of the diseases. An experiment to study the antibacterial activity of crude saps of some plants against test bacteria that are causative agents of human diseases was carried out at the microbiology laboratory of the Arab American University of Palestine. Evaluation was done by measuring the width of the zones of bacterial growth inhibition using agar disk-diffusion. The best antimicrobial action was achieved by Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Allium sativum, Ceratonia siliqua and Amygdalus communis compared with the other tested plants. E. camaldulensis and A. sativum and their mixtures were the strongest plants with antibacterial agents among the four plants against all types of the test bacteria.Crude saps of A. sativum and the mixture of such sap with C. siliqua revealed strong growth inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus whereas, Micrococcus luteus was strongly inhibited by E.camaldulensis, A. sativum, and C. siliqua, and their mixtures. Saps of A. communis, A. sativum, and E. camaldulensis as well as the mixture of A. sativum and E. camaldulensis were effective antibacterial agents against Escherichi. coli. Significant growth inhibition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was achieved by crude saps of both E. camaldulensis and A. sativum, whereas, the growth of both Bacillus subtilis and Proteus vulgaris were strongly hampered by the A. sativum. Regarding the Klebsiella pneumoniae, it was inhibited intermediately by most plant saps except the A. communis.