Abstract
BACKGROUND: The emanation of multi-drugs resistant microorganisms and the challenges faced in combating multi-drug resistant infections is a public health issue and this has increased the search for effective antibiotics from natural sources. OBJECTIVES: This work aims to determine the susceptibility of some pathogenic bacterial species to snail slime. METHODS: The antibacterial activity of aqueous and ethanolic snail slime extracts were investigated against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli using the agar well diffusion method. RESULTS: The results showed that all the organisms were sensitive to both extracts but were more susceptible to aqueous extracts; the highest zone of inhibition for aqueous extracts was 27.33mm ± 2.51mm for Staphylococcus aureus at concentration of 1000µl/ml, while the lowest was 11.33mm ± 1.53mm against Escherichia coli. The highest zone of inhibition for ethanolic fraction was 15.67 ± 1.15mm for Salmonella typhi. The lowest inhibition was 9.33mm ± 0.58mm for Escherichia coli. The MIC was 3.125% for Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli and 6.25% for S. typhi. The extracts were not cidal at the concentrations used. Statistical analysis revealed that the treatments between the aqueous and ethanolic extracts against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi were significant (p ≤ 0.05). The treatment against B. subtilis showed no significant difference between the two extracts (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study has revealed that snail slime possesses antibacterial properties which can be used as anti-microbial agents against infectious diseases.