Evaluating the antimicrobial potency of crude extracts of Psidium guajava bark, leaves of Vernonia amygdalina, Carica papaya and whole plant of Phyllanthus niruri against specific pathogenic bacteria

Abstract

The potency of hot water, cool water and ethanoilc extracts of bark and leaves of Psidium guajava, leaves of Vernonia amydalina, Carica papaya and whole plant of Phyllanthus niruri were assessed against isolates of Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans obtained from the Mampong Research Institute of Herbal medicine in the Eastern region of Ghana. Antibacterial tests were carried out using the agar wells diffusion method. The susceptibility test results showed that extracts of P. niruri are very effective on all gram negative bacteria and extracts of Psidium guajava were effective on both gram negative and positive bacteria. Although V. amygdalina extracts showed inhibition to some bacteria in both hot water and ethanolic extract, hot water extract of C. papaya showed inhibition to S. aureus and S. typhi but room water extracts of both V. amygdalina and C. papaya showed quite a good results. Hence the potency of these plants base on their inhibition zones can be effectively used on some infectious disease caused by the test bacteria. Key words: Antimicrobial, Crude extracts, Psidium guajava, Phyllanthus niruri, Vernonia amydalina, Carica papaya, bacteria.