Abstract
The increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens has drawn the attention of the researchers in the pharmaceutical field towards studies on the potential antimicrobial activity of plant-derived substances. This study was conducted to investigate the antibacterial and antifungal activity of leaf extracts of Lawsonia inermis (Henna) on some nosocomial infection pathogens. Leaf samples of the plant were collected from Yanbu city, Saudi Arabia. Methanol, ethanol, and hexane extracts were obtained by maceration method. The pathogens were isolated from the hospital environment and identified based on cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristics as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter cloacae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphyloccocus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Enterococcus faecalis, and the yeast Candida albicans. The methanol extract was shown high antibacterial and antifungal activity compared with Hexane and Chloroform extracts. Methanol extract expressed highest and broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against pathogenic strains. It exhibited high activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. The results of this study support the use of Lawsonia inermis plant in traditional medicine to treat bacterial and fungal diseases and this plant could be a source of new antibiotic compounds.