EFFECT OF ESSENTIAL OILS FROM THE LEAVES OF Ocimum gratissimum, Callistemon rigidus, peels of Citrus paradisi and extract of C. paradisi seeds on Staphylococcus SPECIES FROM CLINICAL SPECIMENS.

Essential oils from grapefruit (Citrus paradisi), scent leaf (Ocimum gratissimum) and bottle brush (Callistemon rigidus) were obtained by steam distillation. Hot water extract of the grape seed was also obtained. They were screened for antimicrobial activity against 115 clinical isolates of Staphylococcus spp and a locally isolated antibiotic sensitive strain of S. aureus using the agar-well diffusion method. Ocimum gratissimum oil showed the largest inhibitory zone sizes (14-4lmm), followed by that of Callistemon rigidus (10-33mm). Grape seed extract gave the least inhibitory zone sizes of 6 - 17 mm. O. gratissimum oil was the most effective against the staphylococcal isolates as 38 (80.85%) of the S. aureus and 56 (82.35%) of the coagulase - negative staphylococci were susceptible. They were least susceptible to the grape seed extract to which only 11 (23.40%) of the S. aureus and 23 (33.82%) of the coagulase - negative staphylococci screened were susceptible. The development of essential oils from these plants into effective antibacterial herbal preparations should be aggressively pursued to augment the available antibiotics for treating multi-drug resistant staphylococci.