A study on micro diversity and their susceptibility for Phyllanthus urinaria, lemon grass, Pennsylvania smartweed, Cannabis sativa associated with motorbike helmets from 18-24yrs. riders from Meerut.

A study on micro diversity and their susceptibility for Phyllanthus urinaria, lemon grass, Pennsylvania smartweed, Cannabis sativa associated with motorbike helmets from 18-24yrs. riders from Meerut.

Pooja Tomar, Sonia Sharma, Alka Sagar, Asad Aamir

Department of biotechnology and microbiology, MIET, Meerut

ABSTRACT

Motorcycle helmets can serve as a potential medium for the transmission of pathogenic bacteria and fungi with serious health implications. The present study explored the microbial diversity associated with the motorcycle helmets and determines the antibiotic susceptibility of the bacterial isolates against Bhang, Phyllanthus urinaria, lemon grass, Pennsylvania smartweed extracts. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried amongst the students of MIET at Meerut campus. Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus faecalis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus faecalis, Bacillus species, and Clostridium species) were found to be inhabitants of Helmets after their morphological and biochemical identification. The results of this experiment indicate that the leaves of Phyllanthus urinaria, Bhang, Pennsylvania smartweed and Lemon Grass had potent antibacterial properties; however gram-negative bacteria were less sensitive. The findings show that methanol and acetone are superior to ether for extracting the antibacterial characteristics of lemon grass and Phyllanthus urinaria, but ether and acetone are ineffective when extracting the antibacterial activities of Bhang and Pennsylvania smartweed.

KEY WORDS: helmets, bacteria, medicinal plants, antimicrobial activity.