Antibacterial Potentials of Olea europaea Leaves Extract: A Solution to Antimicrobial Resistance

This research focused on the phytochemical screening and antibacterial analysis of the ethanolic extract of Olea europaea leaves. The plant material was collected within Sokoto metropolis, authenticated, dried, pulverized, and subjected to ethanolic extraction. Phytochemical screening was carried out using standard methods to identify the bioactive constituents, while the antibacterial activity of the extract was determined against selected pathogenic organisms such as Staphylococcus aureus (gram +v), Staphylococcus epidermidis (gram +v), Salmonella typhi (gram -v), and Shigella (gram –v), using the agar well diffusion method. Ceftriaxone served as the standard antibiotic for comparison. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, steroids, cardiac glycosides, proteins, and carbohydrates but anthraquinones were absent in varying intensities. The antibacterial test showed that the extract inhibited the growth of the test organisms at different concentrations, with zones of inhibition ranging between 0.25-3.20 mm.The MIC and MBC values indicated bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects at 75mg/mL for S epidermidis, for S-typhin, S-aureus and Shigella, 25mg/mL. This results further confirmed that the extract possesses potentials for new antibiotics development.