Everyone in the world has Escherichia coli. However, that’s actually a good thing; E. coli is part of the healthy function of the human body’s digestive tract (General Information). E. coli is especially good at destroying invasive microbes, like salmonella, that enter the body and may cause illness. Some organizations even use nonvirulent strains of E. coli to test water quality (General Information). Yet, it is the virulent strands of E. coli that affect millions of people living in poverty and unhygienic areas and earn E. coli its negative reputation, and justifiably so.
The most commonly referred to strain is STEC, which causes most major foodborne outbreaks of any E. coli strand (General Information). In the United States alone, STEC accounts for over 250,000 cases of E. coli poisoning (General Information). Like the name suggests, these strains damage the body by producing a toxin that causes bloody diarrhea and vomiting. While not typically fatal, over 10% of STEC infections are life-threatening (General Information). Many times, this is caused by hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) resulting in complications in the kidney and ultimately renal failure (General Information).
For those areas which do not have access to antibiotics, either due to distance, cost or a combination of the two, a variety of ‘home remedies’ have arisen that claim to counter E. coli and other bacterial infections with equal potency as actual medicine, but without the drawbacks. These remedies are simple, cheap, easily available and supposedly rid anything or anyone of E. coli. The remedies might work similarly to alcohols, which denature the proteins vital to the growth of E. coli, since that is what controls and influences the rate of development, in a brute force method of killing bacteria that no amount of resistance and natural selection can protect against (Marr 4).
The two home remedies to be tested today are onion and garlic, commonly available members of the allium genus. Garlic, also known as Allium sativum, has been shown to be effective against bacteria with a resistance to multiple drugs in a 2012 study by Karuppiah and Rajaram (597). Another study determined that at higher temperatures and concentrations of allium extract, the antimicrobial properties of A. sativum, onions, Allium cepa, and related vegetables increase (Lu, et. al 5260).
It is hypothesized that if A. sativum and A. cepa are used against E. coli cultures, they will be successful at preventing its spread and growth, but not as effective as the antibiotics, penicillin and ciprofloxacin. Given the larger body of research around A. sativum, the secondary hypothesis is that A. cepa will be even less effective than A. sativum.
Works Cited
1. CIPROFLOXACIN TABLETS USP, 250 mg, 500 mg and 750 mg086308640865. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2018, from https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/archives/fdaDrugInfo.cfm?archiveid=42873
2. General Information. (2015, November 06). Retrieved December 8, 2018, from https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/general/
3. HOW DOES PENICILLIN WORK. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2018, from http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2002/thornton/how_does_penicillin_work. Htm
4. Karuppiah, P., & Rajaram, S. (2012). Antibacterial effect of Allium sativum cloves and Zingiber officinale rhizomes against multiple-drug resistant clinical pathogens. Asian Pacific journal of tropical biomedicine, 2(8), 597-601.
5. Lu, X., Rasco, B. A., Jabal, J. M., Aston, D. E., Lin, M., & Konkel, M. E. (2011). Investigating antibacterial effects of garlic (Allium sativum) concentrate and garlic-derived organosulfur compounds on Campylobacter jejuni by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and electron microscopy. Applied and environmental microbiology, 77(15), 5257-5269.
6. Marr, A. G. (1991). Growth rate of Escherichia coli. Microbiological reviews, 55(2), 316-333.