Antibacterial activity of Cymbopogon citratus and Rosmarinus officinalis essential oil against carbapenems resistant Klebsiella pneumonia strains (as nosocomial pathogen) isolated from intensive care units of two hospitals

Magdy A. Abu-Gharbia¹, Michael N. Agban², El-Mewafy  A.  El-Ghadban³ and Rasha Z. Abdelmasieh¹*

¹Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt

²Department of immunology and microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

³Department of medicinal plants, horticulture institute, agricultural research center,Giza, Egypt

*Corresponding Author E-mail: rashazaher0122@yahoo.com

Accepted 20 January, 2015

Abstract

The present study shows the antibacterial activity of Cymbopogon citratus and Rosmarinus officinalis essential oils. The essential oil from the dried leaves was extracted by Hydrodistillation. the disc diffusion test was performed as antibacterial tests. Monoterpene hydrocarbons were the dominant compounds in Cymbopogon citratus oil, camphor-pinene, -terpineol and 1,8-cineole were the major compounds in Rosmarinus officinalis oil. Cymbopogon citratus oil revealed a good antimicrobial activity against carbapenems resistant Klebsiella pneumonia strains while no Rosmarinus officinalis  activity was acheived. The findings suggest possibility of application of Cymbopogon citratus oil in treatment of the nosocomial infections caused by this microorganism.

Keyswords: Cymbopogon citrates, Rosmarinus officinalis, essential oil, antibacterial activity, Klebsiella Peumoniae, nosocomial infections