Abstract:
This research study was carried out on patients with septic wounds. A total of 88 wound swabs of various degrees of exudates from different parts of the body was obtained using sterile cotton wool. The swabs were cultured on Blood agar media for the isolation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Various biochemical tests were carried out for the identification of the organism. The isolated Pseudomonas aeruginosa was then subjected to antibiotic sensitivity assay. The antibiotics used included amoxacillin (AM) 30 μg, augumentin (AU) 30 μg, chloramphenicol (CH) 30 μg, ciprofloxacin (CPX) 10 μg, gentamycin (CN) 10 μg, pefloxacin (PEF) 30 μg, septrin (SXT) 30 μg, sparfloxacin (SP) 10 μg streptomycin (S) 30 μg and tarivid (OFX) 10 μg using the disc diffusion method. Antibacterial susceptibility to the ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Jatropha curcas leaves and root was also carried out. Pseudomonal infections showed high prevalence in age-group 30–39 years and least in age group 60 years and above among the males sampled while in the females it was highest in age group 20-29 years and least in age group 50-59 years. Gender-wise prevalence showed 61.8% males and 38.2% females were infected by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Highest level of resistance of 100% was observed with septrin and augumentin, while the highest sensitivity was observed with Ciprofloxacin (82.4%). Out of the extracts used, the Jatropha curcas ethanolic root extract showed a higher activity with zone diameter range of 6-20 mm (32/94.1%) while the aqueous root extract showed a less activity with zone diameter range of 2–12 mm (14/41.2%). Similar trend was also observed with the leaf extracts of Jatropha curcas in which the aqueous leaf extract had a growth inhibition range of 2–4 mm (13/ 38.2%) while the ethanolic leaf extract had a growth inhibition range of 6–16 mm (28/82.4%). The ethanolic root extract of Jatropha curcas was more effective due to the presence of flavonoids, saponins, tannins, glycosides and alkaloids. It is therefore recommended for treating wound infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa in addition to Ciprofloxacin.
