OBJECTIVE:To determine the antimicrobial activity of alcoholic e xtracts of47traditional Chinese herbal medicines in vitro.METHODS:Antibiotic drug sensitive tests of Escherichia coli and Bacillus pyocyaneus were conducted,alˉcoholic extracts of47Chinese herbal medicines were prepared,which were subjected to bicteriostatic tests in vitro by agar spread routine method.RESULTS:Among the47traditonal Chinese herbal medicines alcoholic extracts,11of which did have antimicrobial activity against escherichia coli,pseudomonas aeruginosa and blastomyces albicans in different degree;among which,the antimicrobial activity of the alcoholic extracts of paeoniae radix and granatum to drug resistance bacteria were the highest,the alcoholic extracts of paeoniae radix showed strong inhibitory activities to the above3bacterium,especially to the resistant organisms with the minimum inhibitory concentrations(MIC)at1.3,1.1and1.8mg/ml respectively;The antimiˉcrobial activities of alchoholic extracts of granatum against the above3bacterium were also high with the MIC at8.3,3.6and2.3mg/ml respectively.CONCLUSION:The alcoholic extracts of paeoniae radix and granatum have broad spectrum of anˉtimicrobial activity and which have antimicrobial effect to drug resistance bacteria.