ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF Zingiber officinale RHIZOME EXTRACT AGAINST CLINICAL Staphylococcus aureus

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) has long been used as naturopathy due to their potential antimicrobial activity against different microbial pathogens. Moreover, in many countries like Nigeria, ginger is used in combinations as food recipes. This study was conducted to determine the antimicrobial activity of ginger extract, using disc agar diffusion method, the antibacterial properties of ginger rhizome extract was screened on Staphylococcus aureus The present study showed the potent antimicrobial activity of the ginger extract against Staphylococcus aureus with the highest zone of inhibition (17.0 mm) at 200 mg/ml and the lowest zone of inhibition (0.0 mm) at 1.8 mg/ml. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration of the ginger extract were 125 mg/ml and 175 mg/ml respectively. There was no statistically significant difference to the zone of inhibition of the extract as the concentration increases at P0.05. Ginger extract has high antibacterial properties at low concentration and therefore could serve as an alternative towards tackling the menace of Methicillin and Vancomycin-resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus.