Antibacterial Activity of Composite Mixture of Senna siamea Leaves and Tamarind Pulp Extracts on Multidrug Resistant Salmonella typhi

Background: For many years, antimicrobial chemotherapeutic approach have been challenged by drugs resistant bacteria such as Salmonella associated with gastrointestinal infections. To overcome these effects, several attempts by herbalists and traditional healers were in progress, using some plants parts to treat Typhoid fever in Nigeria.

Aim: The aim of this work was to determine the antibacterial activity of Senna siamea leaves and Tamarindus indica fruit pulp against multidrug resistant Salmonella typhi.

Methods: A total of 168 samples of stool and blood from patients with suspected cases of typhoid fever were collected and only three (3) Salmonella typhi isolates were recovered (from the 168 samples) by conventional microbiological techniques. The isolates were screened for multidrug resistant properties according to Kirby -Bauer disc diffusion method. Water and ethanol were used to extract phytochemical components from powdered leaves of Senna siamea and Tamarindus indica fruit pulp via percolation method. The extracts were tested for the antibacterial activity against the clinical isolates of Salmonella typhi.

Results: All the isolates (100%) were resistant to Ampicillin, Amoxicillin, while two (66.7%) to Erythromycin and Tetracycline and sensitive (100%) to Streptomycin, Gentamycin, Nalidixic acid Ciprofloxacin, Cotrimoxazole, Augmentin and Chloramphenicol, The phytochemical screening o of both plants extracts showed the presence of alkaloids, terpenoids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, carbohydrates and cardiac glycosides. The result shows that aqueous and ethanolic extracts of combined Tamarind and Senna siamea were more active (2.50µg/ml) against Salmonella typhi when compared to individual extracts.

Conclusion: This study shows that aqueous and ethanol extracts of both plants exhibited activity on S. Typhi, hence, possess antimicrobial potentials that it can be used in treatment of typhoid.