Antibacterial Activities of Commonly Used Soaps in Nigeria against Hospital Pathogens Isolated from In-patients in a Mission Hospital in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

Background: Soaps are used daily for several purpose, especially to control microbial growth as they capable of killing or inhibiting the growth of microorganisms. This study aimed to determine the antibacterial activities of commonly used soaps against clinical isolates of E. coli, K. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa. Methods: The isolates were analyzed and confirmed following standard microbiological procedures. Disc diffusion method was used to assess the antibacterial activities of the soaps at different concentrations of 100, 50, 25, 12.5 (mg/ml). A 6 mm Whattman paper was cut, foiled and autoclaved at 1210C for 15 psi to ensure sterility of the disc. Subsequently, the discs were soaked onto different concentrations of the soap extract, followed by careful placement on the surfaces of well streaked Muller-Hinton agar plates containing the test organisms and subsequently incubated over night. After overnight incubation, the inhibition zone diameter was measured using meter rule. Results: The results of the analysis confirmed 8(80%), 7(70%) and 9(90%) prevalence of E. coli, K. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa respectively. The result of the antibacterial activities of medicated soaps, beauty soaps and toilet soaps at different concentrations against pathogenic strains of E. coli, K. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa showed that among the medicated soaps, medisoft soap was the most lethal soap. While among the beauty and toilet soaps, extract and lux soaps respectively are the most lethal soaps against the clinical isolates. Conclusion: The soaps showed geometric decrease in its activities from higher concentration to the lowest concentration.