Studies on the antibacterial effect of different fractions of Curcuma longaagainst urinary tract infection isolates

Curcuma longa belongs to the family Zingiberaceae, commonly known asturmeric. Antibacterial activity of ionic, oil, resins and ethanolic fractions ofturmeric was checked against both gram positive and gram negative UrinaryTract Infection isolates. Sixty-five bacterial strains were isolated from urine ofpatients suffering from urinary tract infection and identified by conventionalmethods. Eighty percent of total isolated organisms were found to be gramnegative while remaining 20% were gram positive. Ionic, resin and ethanolicfractions of turmeric were found to possessed antibacterial activity against S.saprophyticus, S. aureus, S. epidermidis, S. pyogenes, E. faecalis and B. subtiliswhile oil fraction exhibited no activity against the same organisms. No activity ofany of the four fractions was found against gram negative isolates. Theantibacterial activity of turmeric was also compared with fifteen standardantibiotics. Comparative study of turmeric fractions with standard antibioticsshowed that ionic, resin and ethanolic fractions of turmeric are 100% effectiveagainst all tested gram positive organisms, which are resistant to most of thebroad-spectrum antibiotics used.