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ABSTRACT
In Africa, the use of herbs for traditional medicine is known to be a long term practice, as long as before the era of civilization brought about by colonization. An example of the many herbs used in traditional medicine is the Ocimum gratissimum also referred to as Scent leaf. It is known for its strong aromatic herbal benefit to the body. Scent leaves has multipurpose uses; it can be boiled, blended and cooked as a vegetable stew and or soup, or as a spice. Due to its use for illnesses, it is usually referred to as the fever leaf. It has been claimed that Ocimum gratissimum possesses a number of medicinal benefits. These medicinal properties exert bacteriostatic and bactericidal actions on some bacteria. Fresh samples of scent leaves (Ocimum gratissimum) were obtained from Ekosodin, Ovia North East in Benin City, Edo State, deposited and authenticated in the department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology department in the University of Benin. Bacterial isolates (Shigella dysenteriae, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Salmonella typhi) were obtained from University of Benin Teaching Hospital and taken to the Microbiology laboratory for confirmatory test and afterwards used for the antimicrobial tests. Ethanolic and aqueous extracts were prepared and tested to check the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) of the extracts. Ocimum gratissimum has significant antibacterial potential based on this study carried out. Salmonella typhi showed susceptibility to both ethanolic and aqueous extracts at all levels of concentrations with the most significant zones of inhibition being 13mm at 100mg/ml and 10mm at both 50mg/ml and 25mg/ml for the ethanolic extract, and 10mm at both 100mg/ml and 50mg/ml and 5mm at 25mg/ml for the aqueous extract. Shigella dysenteriae was susceptible to both extracts at all concentrations except at 12.5mg/ml, while also showing highest susceptibility to both extracts with zones of inhibition of 16mm and 13mm at 100mg/ml concentration of ethanolic and aqueous extracts respectively. Staphylococcus aureus was susceptible to both extracts only at 100mg/ml and 50mg/ml and resistant at both 25mg/ml and 12.5mg/ml with the most significant zone of inhibition being 10mm and 9mm at 100mg/ml for ethanolic and aqueous extract respectively. Enterococcus faecalis showed resistance to all concentrations of both extracts except at 100mg/ml where it showed susceptibility to both extracts with zones of inhibition being 8mm and 4mm for ethanolic and aqueous extract respectively.
