IN VITRO ANTIBACTERIAL POTENTIAL OF FICUS SYCOMORUS PHENOLICS AGAINST VANCOMYCIN RESISTANT MULTI-DRUG PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA CLINICAL ISOLATES

Vancomycin resistance in gram negative bacteria is rapidly posing a very serious medical, economic and social issue, looking at the fact that the antibiotic is one of the strongest most effective last resorts therapeutic against multidrug resistance gram negative bacteria. Multidrug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, in addition to their potential nosocomial infection have always been a major clinical issue. This necessitates the need to find new therapeutic metabolites for the treatment of such multi-drug resistant isolates. This research was aimed at evaluating the antibacterial activity of Ficus sycomorus phenolics against Vancomycin multidrug resistant P. aeruginosa. The leaves of F. sycomorus (L.) were extracted with chloroform and analyzed using standard methods. Six hundred and nine (609) clinical samples were collected and analysed for the isolation of Vancomycin multidrug resistant P. aeruginosa, their antibiogram profile and presence of multi-drug resistance genes (CTX-M, bla SHV and bla TEM) were determined using standard methods. The plant extract was fractionated and analysed using; Thin layer chromatography, column chromatography, spectral analysis, fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS), which was then use for an in-vitro bioassay against the extremely vancomycin multidrug resistance bacteria. Data obtained showed that tannins, saponin, alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, terpenoids, quinones, phytosterols and phlobatannins were present in the plants extract, at varying concentrations (ranging from 0.06 – 14.47 mg/g dry wt).