Antimicrobial Properties of some African (Ghanaian) plants used in traditional/folk medicine for the topical treatment of infections

Antibiotic resistance is currently a worldwide problem with health, political and social consequences. The use of plant extracts in the treatment of various infections has been part of the culture of most rural communities in Ghana. Twelve dry plant samples popularly used in traditional Ghanaian medicine were crushed and extracted with water, ethanol and chloroform. Each crude extract was tested for its antimicrobial activity on Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes NCTC 8193, Klebsiella aerogenes NCTC 8172, Pseudomonas aeruginosa NCTC 10662, and E coli NCTC 9001. Disc diffusion method using extract concentration of 8.0mg/ml from Alchornea cordifolia used with streptomycin 25µg/ul standard disc as positive control showed activity against all the bacterial species with zones of inhibition ranging between 10mm and 20mm. . Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC) using the 96 well micro-titre plate method were in the range of 125 -250 ug/ml and of 250-500 ug/ml respectively. Various TLC fractions showed significant activity by disc diffusion method giving inhibition zones between 15-20mm. The chemical nature of the active fractions are being analysed by LC-MS.