Antibacterial Properties of Herbal and Beauty Soaps on Disease Causing Microbes

Student: Oluoma Ifechukwu Osakwe (Project, 2025)
Department of Biotechnology
Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this research was to determine the efficacy of selected herbal and beauty soaps against disease-causing microbes such as Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli. Identification of bacterial isolates was done by standard microbiological techniques. The antibacterial activities of the soaps were assayed using the agar disk diffusion method. The result showed that the herbal and beauty soaps exhibited varied antibacterial activities on the test isolates. From the study, the result showed that at 100 mg/ml concentration, Hawaii soap exhibited high antibacterial activities on Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae with inhibition zone diameter of 23 mm and 20 mm respectively. Hawaii soap also showed moderate inhibition on Escherichia coli (18 mm). Most of the soaps tested exhibited very low inhibition on Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In conclusion, these herbal soaps can be used to prevent skin infections and transmission of skin pathogens.

Keywords
antibacterial properties herbal beauty soaps disease causing microbes
Filters
Institutions