Antimicrobial Activity of Carica papaya, Piper nigrum and Datura stramonium Plants on Drug Resistant Pathogens Isolated from Clinical Specimens

The aim of the present study was to investigate the antimicrobial activity and phytochemical screening of Carica papaya, Piper nigrum and Datura stramonium plant extracts. Ethanol and Methanol were used as the solvents for extraction. The antimicrobial activities of these plant extracts were tested against the drug resistant Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains. The bacteria used in the study were Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Acinetobacter baumannii, Salmonella spp., Proteus mirabilis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecium and Neisseria spp. The ethanol and methanol extracts of leaves of Datura stramonium and Carica papaya showed promising results against the drug resistant pathogens, where as Piper nigrum was found to be inefficient in inhibiting the drug resistant pathogens. The ethanol extracts gave larger zone of inhibition than methanol extracts, suggesting that ethanol is a better solvent in terms of extraction of phytochemicals from the plants. The extracts worked better towards the inhibition of gram positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermis than the gram negative bacteria used in this study.