Canadian Journal of Pure & Applied Sciences

Abstract: The present study was performed to test the effectiveness of the aqueous extracts of Commiphora myrrha and Commiphora molmol in inhibition of four types of pathogenic bacteria; Micrococcus luteus, Neisseria siccca, Proteus mirabilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The results showed that the aqueous extracts of C. myrrha and C. molmol have an inhibitive effect on the growth of each bacterium tested. The inhibition of bacterial growth decreased as the storage period of the myrrha was increased. Commiphora myrrha lost its inhibitive effect on Proteus mirabilis and Micrococcus luteus when myrrha was stored for one month, sex months and one year. The aqueous extract of Commiphora molmol lost its effect against Proteus mirabilis after one year of storage. C. molmol was seen when used as 50% of the concentration and stored only for a month as the inhibitive area decreased to 2.47 cm2 for Micrococcus luteus, 2.43 cm2 for Neisseria sicca, 2.17 cm2 for Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 1.78 cm2 for Proteus mirabilis. Chemical analysis of myrrha showed that it contains three components, 2-fluorodiphenylmethane, Tribenzo-1,2,3,4,5,6anthracene and 2- bromo-1-(4-bromophenyl)-Ethanone, known for their microbial inhibitive effect. In addition, antimicrobial activities of 12 pharmaceutical bacterial antibiotics were tested against the four bacterial strains used in the experiment. It was found that Micrococcus luteus is the most resistant, as it was only inhibited by five of the 12 antibiotics tested followed by Proteus mirabilis that was inhibited by six antibiotics. The growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was inhibited by eight antibiotics and Neisseria sicca was the one most sensitive to the common antibiotics as it was inhibited by nine antibiotics.