Antibacterial activity of chloroxylenol and thymol against pathogenic bacteria isolated from under long nails

OBJECTIVE: Fingernails are a perfect area for harboring bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella sp., Shigel-la sp., and Escherichia coli. These bacteria un-der the long nails may cause diseases due to the contact of nails with food or while biting the nails. Our study aimed to compare the antibacterial ac-tivity of chloroxylenol and thymol, two different detergent ingredients, on microorganisms iso-lated from long fingernails. This study was per-formed to raise awareness of the dangers of long nails and the importance of good nail hygiene.PATIENTS AND METHODS: The present study was performed on female students at the Faculty of Science, King Abdelaziz University. Bacteria were isolated from under one finger nails and cultured on both McConkey agar and mannitol salt agar. After incubation, we isolated bacteria on nutrient agar. After that, we conduct-ed several tests to determine the isolate type. Finally, we prepared three different concentra-tions of chloroxylenol and thymol to compare their effect on the isolated bacteria using anti-bacterial activity on Mueller-Hinton agar.RESULTS: Two types of bacteria were isolated, pathogenic bacteria called Staphylococcus au-reus and non-pathogenic bacteria called Staph-ylococcus epidermidis. Staphylococci have more sensitivity to chloroxylenol than thymol. In addi-tion, chloroxylenol, at high concentrations had a more powerful antibacterial effect.CONCLUSIONS: The results emphasized that fingernails could harbor pathogenic bacteria which are difficult to remove. Perfect hand hygiene is essential to prevent the spread of diseases.