An in Vitro Evaluation of the Antimicrobial Activity of Curcuma longa against Selected Pathogenic Microorganisms

The use of plants in healing of dermatophytes, burns along with infectious diseases is frequent in conventional medicine. The expansion of new antimicrobial agents against defiant pathogens is of escalating interest. Curcuma longa (turmeric) is a diminutive rhizomatous perennial herb of Zingiberaceae (Ginger family) originates from south eastern Asia, mainly from India. It has an elongated history of therapeutic uses as it is credited with a diversity of imperative beneficial properties. Therefore, the methanolic extract of Curcuma longa used locally in folk medicine was evaluated for antibacterial activity against different bacteria i.e. Shigella flexneri, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, Proteus vulgaris, Enterobacter aerogenes, Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, Trichophyton rubrum by disc diffusion method. When screening for antimicrobial activity, the results were expressed in terms of the diameter of the inhibition zone: The maximum efficacy of methanolic extract was showed against Shigella flexneri and Candida albicans.