ANTI-MICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF SELECTED MEDICINAL PLANTS USED FOR TREATMENT OF ORAL THRUSH AMONG THE NANDI COMMUNITY IN UASIN GISHU COUNTY

Abstract

Plants have been used as medicines long before recorded history. The researchers today are emphasizing on evaluation and characterization of various plants and plant constituents against a number of diseases based on the traditional claims to treat these diseases. This research was on a traditional medicinal herbal from the Nandi community of Kenya. It has been in use to treat oral thrush in children. This research tested the herbs for in vitro antimicrobiological activity. This was in pursuance of the efforts to search for new drugs from plants and the verification of the scientific basis of some known practices in traditional medicine. Fresh plant/plant parts were collected from the fields following leads by herbalists. The details of plant /plant parts were screened, their families, vernacular names and their therapeutic uses were documented. The plant was confirmed and identified by a taxonomist. The plant parts collected were washed under running tap water, air dried for one week and then homogenized to fine powder. This was then soaked under Methanol for two days, filtered and rotor vaporized to dry to get the final crude extract. The final product was air dried at room temperature overnight, to allow all the methanol to evaporate. The sample was divided into two halves, one was subjected to bioassay following the Kirby bauer method. The other sample was subjected to phytochemical analysis following standard methods.The crude concoction was also subjected to bioassay following the agar dilution method. The test fungal strains investigated included; Candida albicansATCC90020, Candida tropicalisATCC750, Candida famata(clinical isolate),Candida glabrataATCC90039, Candida lusitaniae(clinical isolate) Candida parapsilosisATCC22019, and Candida kruseiATCC6285.The gram positive Staphylococcus aureusATCC25922 and Gram negative Escherichia coli ATCC25923 bacteria were also screened against the extracts.The fungal control used were with Nystatin discs (positive) and Dimethyl Sulphoxide (D.M.S.O.) (negative control) prepared discs. The bacteria used chloramphenicol discs as a positive control. The results of bioassay obtained was analyzed using ANOVA. The crude drug preparation (Tusanik) demonstrated activity against C.famata and S.aureus. The methanol extracts of Fuerstia africana demonstrated the most activity against C.tropicalis (9mm) with MFC of 0.125mg/ ml.C. parapsilosis (8.66mm) with MFC of 0.015625mg/ml and S. aureus (12mm) MIC of 0.0078125mg/ ml. Extract of Rubia cordifolia showed bioactivity against C.parapsilosis at 10.66mm diameter with MFC of 0.015625mg/ ml. The plant extracts of Ajuga remota and Acmella caulirhiza did not demonstrate any antimicrobial activity. However, previous studies suggest that the two plants have analgesic properties. The activity of the crude herbal concoction was also demonstrated using agar dilution method. It showed bioactivity against C. famata and S. aureus at 5 mg/ml and 2.5 mg/ml respectively. The activity of this crude concoction has been partially demonstrated, since it has always been used by the traditional people to cure oral thrush.This research therefore supports the traditional medicinal application of herbals made from R. cordifolia and F.africana for the treatment of oral thrush.