Oyetayo V O
Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure.
Afr J Tradit Complement Altern Med. 2007 Oct 27;5(1):74-8. doi: 10.4314/ajtcam.v5i1.31259.
The use of herbal remedies had increased significantly in the last one decade in Nigeria. This has led to the production of herbal products with bogus claims. The microbial quality and antibacterial properties of two Nigerian herbal remedies with such claimed efficacy of curing all manners of microbial diseases were assessed. The herbal remedies were discovered to be contaminated with the following microorganisms: Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus cereus, Basidiobotrytis sp, Oedocephalum sp, Varicosporium sp and Articulospora inflata. Antibacterial analysis using the killing rate revealed that the herbal remedies had bacteriostatic and not bacteriocidal effect. Qualitative phytochemical screening of the herbal remedies revealed the presence of saponin, tannins, alkaloids, anthraquinone and cardiac glycosides which suggest possible antimicrobial effect. However, the presence of microbial contaminants in the herbal remedies suggests that they may serve as source of infection to end users.
在过去十年里，尼日利亚草药疗法的使用显著增加。这导致了一些声称具有虚假功效的草药产品的生产。对两种声称能治愈各种微生物疾病的尼日利亚草药疗法的微生物质量和抗菌特性进行了评估。发现这两种草药疗法被以下微生物污染：枯草芽孢杆菌、凝结芽孢杆菌、蜡样芽孢杆菌、担子菌属、头状菌属、变孢菌属和膨胀节孢菌。使用杀灭率进行的抗菌分析表明，这些草药疗法具有抑菌作用而非杀菌作用。对这些草药疗法进行的定性植物化学筛选显示存在皂苷、单宁、生物碱、蒽醌和强心苷，这表明可能具有抗菌作用。然而，草药疗法中存在微生物污染物表明它们可能会成为终端用户的感染源。
