Determination of the Inhibitory Effects of Commercially Available Homeopathic Drugs on Pathogenic Bacterial Growth
Antibiotic resistance is a significant public health issue around the world. New treatment options are needed to combat the situation and homeopathy is thought to be an option. Present study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of homeopathic drugs as a suitable alternative to antibiotics in the elimination of bacterial infections. In this regard, four diluted homeopathic drug samples such as Apis mellifica, Graphites, Arsenicum album and Pulsatilla used against different diseases at the potency of 30C and 200C, were collected. The samples were tested for antibacterial potential by agar well diffusion method and Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) assay against previously isolated clinical bacterial isolates. Through the agar well diffusion method, no noticeable antimicrobial activity was found by the homeopathic drug samples. Only a trace quantity of inhibitory effect was found against Staphylococcus spp. by all the homeopathic drugs with highest zone of inhibition of 8.7±1.15 mm. The findings from the MIC assay revealed that relatively higher concentrations of the samples were needed to retard the growth of the pathogenic bacteria in most of the cases. The lowest MIC of 128 µL of three homeopathic drugs was found against Staphylococcus spp. However, in the majority of the cases, the MIC was counted as 512 µL and 1024 µL of the homeopathic drugs. The present study could not able to provide profound evidence to claim tested homeopathic drugs as alternatives to antibiotics.
Keywords: Antibacterial activity, homeopathic drugs, pathogenic bacteria, minimal Inhibitory Concentration
Citation: Md. Istiak Kabir, Asif Ikram, Md. Bahadur Sikder, Md. Hafizul Haq Tushar and Saurab Kishore Munshi. “Determination of the Inhibitory Effects of Commercially Available Homeopathic Drugs on Pathogenic Bacterial Growth”. SVOA Microbiology 2:1 (2021) Pages 01-06.
