DISCUSSION
Among the two different extracts obtained
from onion, cold water extract and fresh onion
extracts,it was discovered that cold water extract could
not exert any inhibitory effect on all the tested
organisms isolated from ocular infection. This indicated
the absence of the antibiotic property in cold water
onion extracts, this might be as a result of high
temperature 1210C used during autoclaving, which may
denature the active component [7]. However, the fresh
onion extract was observed to inhibit the growth of the
bacteria isolated from ocular infection. This finding is
in agreement with the documentation of [10], that
extract from onion and garlic has antibacterial
properties. Hence, comparing the antibacterial activity
of the onion extracts with commercially available
antibiotic (ciprofloxacin) used in this research; it was
observed that both have antibacterial effect on ocular
infections. Streptococcus pygenes and Staphylococcus
aureus were sensitive to the fresh onion extracts with
the zone inhibition ranging from 17mm in
Staphylococcus aureus to 20mm in Streptococcus
pygenes. Moreover, Escherichia coli was sensitive to
fresh onion extracts with the zone of inhibition of
15mm in diameter and Streptococcus pneumonia has a
zone of inhibition of 8mm on fresh onion extracts.