Abstract

This study assesses the antimicrobial effect of chloroformic extract of garlic on strains of mycobacterium tuberculosis. A standard H37RV isolate and isolates from patients with drug resistant pulmonary tuberculosis were used. A strain sensitive to 4 drugs (rifampin, isoniazid, ethambutol and streptomycin), resistant to the four drugs, resistant to two drugs and a strain resistant to one drug, were used. The antimicrobial effect was tested in vitro with minimum inhibitory concentrations of the chloroformic extract of garlic on the mycobacteria. Middel Broke 7H10 agar medium with 1:128 dilution or (167±SD μg mL-1) of chloroformic extract of garlic were used. Our study showed that garlic extract is effective in inhibiting growth of not only drug sensitive, but also drug resistant isolates of mycobacterium tuberculosis. © 2006 Asian Network for Scientific Information.