THE EFFECTS OF SOME MEDICATED SOAPS ON SOME NORMAL MICRO-FLORA OF THE HUMAN SKIN

Abstract

This project investigates the effects of selected medicated soap (Delta, Tetmosol and Tura) commonly used at the study area on some normal micro flora (Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus pyogenes) of the human skin. A total of seventy two samples were collected from three body regions (armpit, cubital and finger web) and subjected to both microbial and biochemical tests. Out of the total samples, Thirty six samples each were collected from Bingham University, Karu and Auta-Balefi communities also in Karu. All the samples were cultured in standard Blood and MacConkey agar at 370 C for 24 hours. The result showed that there were differences in the prevalence of both Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis at the two locations. Null hypothesis was therefore rejected following t-test (t-cal= 0.75, df=1, 0.05 and t-tab=12.7). Staphylocccus pyogenes was isolated from only one sample after treatment. The result also indicated that application of treatment reduced the prevalence of the skin micro flora. On the basis of treatment, the Null hypothesis was also rejected again, for this sample batch (t-cal= 1.0, df=2, 0.05 and t-tab=4.03). These results seem to suggest that, the use of these medicated soaps should be in moderate levels because, overuse may reduce the resident micro flora thereby giving way to transient micro flora, which may grow opportunistically above the normal threshold level, creating a disease situation especially in immune-compromised individuals.