Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-microbial activities of some liquid herbal anti-infectives manufactured and marketed in South-Eastern Nigeria and determine the extent of their microbial contamination. Twenty samples were randomly collected from herbal shops in the five states that make up the South-East Nigeria. Antibacterial activities of the herbal preparations were evaluated using agar-well-diffusion method. The samples that showed significant antibacterial activity against the test organisms were further subjected to cell killing rate test. Maximum inhibitory dilutions of the active compounds were obtained and their in vitroanti-infective activity against multidrug resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Extended Spectrum β-Lactamase (ESBL) organisms were evaluated also. Eight (40%) of the product showed some antibacterial activity and none have antifungal activity against the test fungi. Kill kinetic experiment showed that some products have some activity against the test bacteria. One of the products showed antibacterial activity against MRSA. Comparison of the antibacterial activity of the products and conventional antibiotics showed that there was no significant difference among the microorganism to the antibiotics (F = 0.498, P = 0.686) and herbal anti-infectives (F = 0.477, P = 0.700). Only 40% of the 20 products have some antibacterial activity but none have anti-fungal activity. All were heavily contaminated with microorganisms. Current good manufacturing practice may not have been applied in their manufacture.

Key words: Herbal anti-infectives, antibacterial activity, South-East Nigeria, liquid preparations.