Activity of nilam (Pogostemon cablin Benth.) oil as antibacterial to Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Shigella dysenteriae causing diarrhea

Abstract This study aimed to identify the characteristics and analyze the composition of patchouli oil, as well as to evaluate its antibacterial effectiveness of patchouli oil against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli , and Shigella dysenteriae , the bacteria that cause diarrhea. The antibacterial test method used was disc diffusion method with varying concentrations of patchouli oil (6.25%, 12.5%, 25%, and 50%), with 10% DMSO as the negative control and chloramphenicol as the positive control. The results showed that the characteristics of patchouli oil met all the requirements of SNI 06-2385-2006. The most dominant compounds composition in patchouli oil were patchouli alcohol (33.46%), followed by δ-guaiene (18.48%) and α-guaiene (15.01%). The results of antibacterial testing showed varying levels of activity against different test bacteria. Patchouli essential oil at concentrations of 25% and 50% exhibited strong inhibitory category against the growth of Staphylococcus aureus . In contrast, at concentrations of 6.25% to 50%, the oil inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli only in the weak inhibition category. Meanwhile, at concentrations of 6.25% to 25% patchouli oil inhibited the growth of Shigella dysenteriae in the strong inhibition category, and at concentration of 50% it exhibited very strong inhibitory category. Patchouli essential oil also has bactericidal ability at concentrations of 25% and 50% against Staphylococcus aureus and Shigella dysenteriae .