Garlic Effects Bacteria

Introduction

This lab was conducted to test the effects of garlic when exposed to two different strains of bacteria. Garlic has been used throughout many centuries to treat common ailments from seasickness to intestinal parasites (Ankri and Mirelman, 1999). With the information gathered from this lab, we can conclude whether or not our predecessors were on the right track with this natural remedy.

Another reason for doing this experiment is to observe how natural antibiotics affect modern bacteria. With our modern medicine, people are diagnosed with a sickness and are given an antibiotic to ward it off. The patient is warned to take the entire contents of the medicine to ensure that all of the bacteria they are harboring are killed but often the patient will discontinue the use of pills whenever their symptoms are gone. This leaves a few weakened bacteria in their systems that are resistance to the medication (Campbell and Reece, 2005). The antibiotic resistant strands then have a chance to reproduce and create more drug resistant bacteria. By observing how allicin works in its natural state, we can view how beneficial it is to utilize the antibiotics that are given freely to us by Mother Nature. This observation can help with future medicinal explorations because we can see exactly how to maximize the natural alternative’s efficiency so that we can learn how to reap the most benefit from this under utilized medicine.

To form our hypothesis, my group drew from the knowledge that when you break down cells, they release chemicals. We also recognized that the presence of garlic would have more of an effect than just water. Bacteria are classified in two different ways. There are the gram positive bacteria that are relatively ea...

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...esearch needs to be done in investigating the effectiveness of these natural antibiotics so that we may find more efficient ways to treat bacterial infections that will not have the possibility to produce drug resistant strains. With man made antibiotics, the risk is too great of producing these drug resistant strands because the power relies with the patient who is not well versed on the possible outcomes of their carelessness (Petrovska and Cekovska, 2010). If we seek out more natural ways to rid ourselves of these bacteria, then we will prevent the problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria all together. Our ancestors first noticed garlic’s healing power and after we tested and proved that they were correct in its effectiveness, we must now learn how to hone the medicine to increase its efficiency so that we may help future generations combat this growing epidemic.