Eugene BS Conteh, Abdulai Turay, Ishmael Abdulrahman Kamara, Mamoud Massaquoi and Augustine Maada Amara

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens effective treatment of common infections, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, and has renewed interest in plant-derived therapeutics (Ventola, 2015; Hughes and Andersson, 2017; Yousfi et al., 2021) ^{[18, 9, 21]}. Ginger, Zingiber officinale, has a long history in traditional medicine and contains phenolic and terpenoid constituents with reported antimicrobial activity (Ali et al., 2008; Grzanna et al., 2005) ^{[2, 7]}.
Aim: To evaluate the phytochemical composition and in vitro antibacterial activity of solvent extracts of Zingiber officinale rhizomes cultivated in Sierra Leone.
Methods: A laboratory-based study was conducted from February to May 2025. Fresh rhizomes were authenticated and processed; powdered material was Soxhlet-extracted using ethanol, petroleum ether, and distilled water (400 g per solvent). Crude extracts were concentrated and screened qualitatively for major phytochemical classes. Antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella spp. was assessed by agar-well diffusion on Mueller-Hinton agar using ciprofloxacin (5 micrograms) as positive control and DMSO as negative control (CLSI, 2020) ^[5].
Results: From 1,200 g of powdered rhizome, 15.58 g of crude extract was obtained (overall yield 1.30% w/w). Per-solvent yields were ethanol 9.29 g (2.32%), petroleum ether 3.43 g (0.85%), and water 2.86 g (0.71%). Phytochemical screening indicated tannins, flavonoids, phenols, carbohydrates, anthraquinones, alkaloids, and terpenoids, with ethanol extract showing the richest profile. Zones of inhibition (mm) for ethanol extract were 23.0 (S. aureus), 16.0 (Klebsiella spp.), and 14.0 (E. coli); petroleum ether: 12.0, 17.0, 9.0; aqueous: 10.0, 15.0, 8.0, respectively. Ciprofloxacin produced 27-29 mm zones; DMSO showed no inhibition.
Conclusion: Solvent selection strongly influenced both extraction efficiency and antibacterial activity, with the ethanol extract of Z. officinale demonstrating the greatest chemical diversity and inhibitory effects, particularly against S. aureus. Findings support ginger as a promising source of antibacterial agents and justify further quantitative and MIC/MBC-guided investigations (Ali et al., 2008; Semwal et al., 2015; Mao et al., 2019) ^{[2, 16, 12]}.

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