Inhibition of coagulase activity and growth ofStaphylococcus aureus by garlic extracts

Garlic extract (1 mg dry weight/ml) produced an inhibition of the coagulase reaction and increased the time of coagulation by a factor of 1.5, whereas 4 mg dry weight/ml increased the coagulation time factor by 2.75. At this latter concentration of garlic, coagulation was only partially complete at 4 h. Garlic extract (1.4 mg dry weight/ml) reduced growth in nutrient broth whereas 5.6 mg dry weight/ml was completely inhibitory. These effects were not observed until 8 h after exposure of the organisms to the garlic extracts. There were 5.9% more survivors among garlic treated mice compared to non-treated animals, but this difference is not significant.