The efficacy of thymus vulgaris tincture as an antibacterial agent

Abstract

The aim of this study was to establish the effect of Thymus vulgaris tincture prepared in 43% ethanol and 70% ethanol in comparison to 43% ethanol and 70% ethanol only upon Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis, using a disc diffusion method, and to determine the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MEC) of Thymus vulgaris tincture in respect of these bacteria. Mueller-Hinton agar plates were streaked with saline test cultures adjusted to the 0.5 McFarland Equivalence Turbidity Standard. Five sterile filter paper discs 5mm in diameter were placed on each plate. These filter paper discs were impregnated with 10111of the test or control substances using a micropipette. The plates were incubated at 3TC for 18 hours. The diameters of the zones of inhibition of the bacterial growth around the discs were measured. This data was used to look for inter-group change by means of the Mann- Whitney Test between the test and control subgroups in both group A and group B. The means and standard deviations of each of the groups were compared in order to look for possible trends if the p-value of each group was insignificant. Il Thymus vulgaris tincture in 43% ethanol produced significant inhibitory effects in comparison to the 43% ethanol control upon all the bacteria tested. Thymus vulgaris tincture in 70% ethanol produced significant inhibitory effects in comparison to the