The Effects of Lavender Essential Oil in Different Forms On E-Coli

Antibacterial resistant infections such as MRSA are on the rise. Though there are antibiotics that still work on these infections, overprescription will eventually lead to those treatments also becoming ineffective. The intention of this study is to determine the feasibility of using Lavender Essential Oil in different forms to assist antibiotics in the treatment of these infections. Three different forms were tested- Lavender Essential Oil distilled using Ethyl Acetate, emulsified Lavender Essential Oil using starch, and emulsified Lavandin Essential Oil using starch. The Lavender Essential oil that was created used ground Lavender buds and Ethyl Acetate distilled for 24 hours to see if the solvent would help the oil to become more effective. The two emulsified oils were in water, to test if the water would allow the essential oil to better penetrate the cells. These were tested against tetracycline (a common antibiotic) using E-Coli and a Kirby- Baur disk diffusion array. Results will be presented.