Antibacterial activity of eucalypt gum

The rapid development of bacterial resistance is limiting the long-term use of current antibiotics.
Natural plant compounds can play an important role in developing new drugs for treating infectious diseases.
Kino is a type of wood exudate, often obtained from eucalypt trees, that has been used by Australian aboriginal people for thousands of years to cure ailments such as diarrhoea, skin lesions, scabies, cramps, sore throat and cough.
We determined the antibacterial activity of kino extracts from the eucalypts, Corymbia citriodora, C. torelliana × C. citriodora and C. torelliana, against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium and Bacillus cereus. All crude extracts showed antibacterial activity, with the highest activity being against the Gram-negative bacterium, P. aeruginosa.

XXIX International Horticultural Congress on Horticulture: Sustaining Lives, Livelihoods and Landscapes (IHC2014): V World Congress on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants and International Symposium on Plants, as Factories of Natural Substances, Edible and Essential Oils

M. Nobakht, S.J. Trueman, H.M. Wallace, P.R. Brooks, M. Katouli

Corymbia sp., Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, natural products, traditional medicine

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2016.1125.8