THE ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF CINNAMON AND CLOVE AGAINST STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS

Abstract

The antibacterial activity of aqueous extracts of cinnamon and clove against Staphylococcus aureus was investigated. Agar diffusion technique was applied in the trial. Both cinnamon and clove were found to have inhibitory effect against Staphylococcus aureus and the mean of the diameter of inhibition zones ranges from (7-17) mm for cinnamon and (7.5-19) mm for clove and statistical analysis using t-test demonstrated that there were significant differences between cinnamon and clove at each concentration used in this study in order that clove was found to have greater effects against Staphylococcus aureus. The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was also determined and it was shown that 30% was the MBC for cinnamon and 15% was the MBC for clove.