Preliminary Phytochemical, Antioxidants, and Antibacterial Properties of Eucalyptus Aqueous Leaf Extract Against Streptococcus pyogenes

Abstract

Abstract Streptococcus pyogenes is one of the exclusive human pathogenic bacterial, it causes diverse diseases such as pharyngotonsillitis, impetigo, necrotizing fasciitis, bacteremia or sepsis, and often leads to complications such as acute rheumatic fever and glomerulonephritis. In this study, the antimicrobial activity of Eucalyptus aqueous leaf extract against 15 clinical isolates of Streptococcus pyogenes and reference strain DMST 17020 was evaluated using the standard microdilution technique. Eucalyptus showed antibacterial activity against all the isolates with minimum inhibitory and minimum bactericidal concentrations of 64μg/ml and 64256 μg/ml respectively. The extract further showed free radical scavenging ability as detected using DPPH and ABTS assays. Phytochemical analysis of the extract revealed the presence of bioactive compounds.