Original Articles
R Anitha and A Murugan
Abstract
Objectives of the research are, to investigate the predominant organisms and its association with Psoriasis; to investigate the antibacterial activity of ayurvedic plants against psoriasis associative pathogen. The skin swab samples from the affected area like head, neck, hands and legs were collected from 152 patients with plaque and guttate psoriasis. All the samples were processed for the isolation and identification of bacteria associated with psoriasis. Antibacterial activity of methanolic extracts of two ayurvedic plants was investigated. The most common genera identified from the sample sites of psoriasis patients were coagulase positive Staphylococcus aureus. Maximum 28% of Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from all the sample sites; followed by coagulase negative Staphylococcus epidermidis (18%) and Staphylococcus auricularis (10%). Antibacterial activity showed significant inhibitory zones ranging from 11 mm to 18 mm against all Staphylococcus spp. As a future perspective, molecular-based techniques, like 16S rRNA gene sequencing studies need to be handled for isolating and identifying other skin microbiota association with plaque, guttate and chronic psoriasis. As only very few published evidence on skin microflora of psoriasis cases in countries like India, the obtained results in our present research would be a helpful data to understand the types of bacteria isolated from head, neck, trunk, hands and legs of psoriasis patients. Antibacterial activity of Acalypha indica and Azadirachta indica against clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus showed promising results in the present research. However, as a future study, the combination of these two plant extracts may be more potent in increasing the antibacterial actions.