Author(s): Conner Twitty
Mentor(s): Olga Kopp
Institution UVU
Antibiotics treat bacterial infections by killing off the bacteria or inhibiting their growth. These infections can range from mild diseases such as UTIs (urinary tract infections) and strep throat to more serious conditions like pneumonia and sepsis. While the discovery of antibiotics has helped save many lives, it has also accelerated the rate at which bacteria acquire such genes of resistance. Some bacterial strains have become multi drug resistant and don’t respond to traditional antibiotics, necessitating higher risk procedures and aggressive treatment plans leading to less favorable patient outcomes. While the rate at which we encounter these multi-drug-resistant bacteria increases, the rate at which we produce new antibiotics has decreased, necessitating the development of novel drugs and treatments. While promising, many of these drugs and treatments are still decades away from being used consistently in patient care. We must use the resources that we have in the meantime. Although often viewed as pseudoscience, there are many studies that show essential oils may enhance the efficacy of existing antibiotics like penicillin through synergistic effects. This synergy could allow for effective treatments at lower antibiotic dosages, thus potentially reducing the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Additionally, these essential oils could be used to restore the clinical efficacy of some traditional antibiotics that are no longer effective at treating most antibacterial infections. There is even some evidence suggesting these essential oils may perform as well or better than some existing antibiotics. In this experiment, we sought to investigate the synergistic activity of eucalyptus, tea tree, and thyme oil with penicillin-streptomycin against Staphylococcus aureus by comparing the zone of inhibition (ZOI) between six treatment groups and two controls (positive and negative). The results showed no evidence that eucalyptus or thyme oil augmented the effects of penicillin-streptomycin when compared to the positive control. The ZOI of tea tree by itself was larger than that of penicillin-streptomycin indicating that tea tree oil is more effective at treating infections than penicillin streptomycin. There was a slight increase in the ZOI with penicillin-streptomycin and tea tree oil from just penicillin-streptomycin by itself, indicating that tea tree may have a synergistic effect, but further studies would need to be done.