ABSTRACT

 Antibacterial activity is the ability to either destroy or inhibit the growth of microorganisms. This can be referred to as either cidal or static effects respectively. The study evaluated the antibacterial activity of locally made soap and two medicated soaps on clinical isolates. The industrially made medicated soaps Tetmosol and Dettol were purchased from a pharmacy and cosmetics stores in Umudike, Abia State noting the batch numbers, expiry dates and the presence and absence of the manufacturer's seal. The locally made soap known as black soap were obtained from Umuahia centre market, Umuahia, Abia State. The result of this study showed that the Tetmosol medicated soap showed minimal antibacterial activity against the isolates at 100 mg/ml concentrations as against the Dettol which showed antibacterial activity against the isolates at 100 mg/mi, 50 mg/ml, and 25 mg/ml concentrations, whereas the locally made soap produced the highest antibacterial activity against the isolates 100 mg/ml, 50 mg/ml, 25 mg/mi and 12.5 mg/ml concentrations. The result of the minimum inhibitory showed that local soap had better MIC and MBC of 6.25 mg/ml and MBC of 12.5 mg/ml respectively on Pseudomonas aeruginosa. For E. coil, the MIC and MBC were 12.5 mg/ml and 25 mg/ml respectively. For S. aureus, the MIC and MBC were 25 mg/mi and 50 mgl/ml respectively. Dettol had higher MIC of 25 mg/ml and MBC of 50 mg/ml for S. aureus. For E. coil, the MIC and MBC were 12.5 mg/ml and 25 mg/mi respectively. For Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the MIC and MBC were 6.25 mg/mi and 125 mgl/ml respectively. Tetmosol had higher MIC of 25 mg/ml and MBC of 50 mg/ml for S. aureus. For E. coil, the MIC and MBC were 50 mg/ml and 100 mg/mi respectively. For Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the MIC and MBC were 25 mg/ml and 50 mgl/ml respectively. This means that the two medicated soap (Dettol and Tetmosol) is needed in higher concentrations to kill or inhibit the growth of these pathogens as against the local soap. The present work has shown that Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were susceptible to assayed medicated soaps and the locally made soap has antibacterial property. This study showed that all the soap samples had antibacterial activity against the bacterial strains but the locally made soap was more effective