Antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Argemone mexicana Linn.

The increase in the number of bacterial and fungi often implicated in nosocomial and community infections as well as the gradual development of drug resistance strains of pathogenic microorganism led to the investigation of Argemone Mexicana Linn against Bacillus subtilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, Candida stellatoidea and Candida torulopsis. Well diffusion methods and minimum inhibitory concentrations were used. S. aureus and K. pneumoniae show relative sensitivity to essential oil from aerial and root parts, while P. aeruginosa and B. subtilis were resistant. C. albicans and C. stellatoidea were susceptible to essential oil from the aerial parts, but only C. stellatoidea show susceptibility to essential from the root parts. However C. torulopsisi was resistant to both essential oil from aerial and root parts of A. mexicana. While C. albicans was only resistant to the root parts essential oil. The conclusion was that the observable inhibition on selected bacteria and fungi by essential oil of A. mexicana makes it a promising alternative for the development of an indigenous antimicrobial agent.