Comparative Study on the Antimicrobial Activity of Some Selected Medicinal Plants on Klebsiella pneumonia & Candida albicans

Abstract

Medicinal plants have been the basis of treatment of various diseases by man over the years and a large portion of the world population are depending on the use of traditional medicine. Medicinal plants are known to be source of bioactive compounds that have therapeutic values, the World Health Organization (WHO) encourages the inclusion of herbal medicine in health care because of the great potential they possess. In this research work five different medicinal plants were subjected to antimicrobial study against Klebsiella pneumonia and Candida albicans at different concentrations. The plants were extracted using hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol. The ethyl acetate extract of Parinari curatellifolia exhibited better antibacterial activity than the other extracts at all concentrations, having 26.00±0.00 mm zone of inhibition at 100.00 mg/ml concentration. The ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of Hilleria latifolia exhibited the highest zone of inhibition against Candida albicans, having zone of inhibition value of 20.00±0.00 mm at 100.00 mg/ml concentration. None of the extracts exhibited higher zone of inhibition than the standard drugs used. The study has shown that Parinari curatellifolia is a better antimicrobial agent against infections caused by Candida albicans and Klebsiella pneumonia.