Phytochemical Evaluation and Antimicrobial Potential Assessment of Some Spices on Selected Pathogenic Microorganisms in Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Nigeria

The antibacterial activity of Monodora myristica, Xylopia aethiopica, Piper guineense, Tetrapleura tetraptera against selected human pathogens like Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi and Streptococcus mutans were ascertained using standard microbiological procedures. The herbaceous plants were sun dried and ground into powdery form. Fifty grams (50 g) each of the herbaceous plants were submerged into three (3) different extraction solvents (Ethanol, Methanol and Aqueous) in a conical flask, the flask were shaken intermittently for 24 hours. The herbaceous plants were sieved using whatman number one filter paper. The sieved extracts were allowed to air dry and the dried extracts were stored in a sterile sample bottle in the refrigerator until use. Agar well diffusion technique was used to determine the antibacterial activity/efficacy of the herbaceous plants. The antibacterial activity of ethanol, methanol and aqueous extracts of Azadirachta indica were determined. The result showed that aqueous extract had antimicrobial activity against all the test bacteria, ethanol extract had activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli, but showed no activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus mutans and Salmonella typhi. Methanol extract had activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli. Aqueous extract had activity similar to that of ethanol and methanol except that Streptococcus mutans which showed resistance to ethanol and methanol extracts was susceptible to aqueous extracts. Phytochemical analysis conducted shows that the herbaceous plant extracts contains substances such as alkaloids, saponin, tannin, flavonoid and phenol. The result obtained from this study revealed that these herbaceous extracts possess bioactive substances which had antibacterial activity on the test bacterial used in the study. Ethanol, methanol and aqueous extracts of Azadiractha Indica, Monodora myristica, Xylopia aethiopica, piper guineense, and Tetrapleura tetraptera had a remarkable activity against Staphylococcus aureus, E.coli and Klebsiella pneumonia while Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus mutans and Salmonella typhi were resistant to both ethanol and methanol extracts. However, further in vitro and in vivo studies should be carried out to identify the active constituents responsible for their antibacterial activity.