Abstract:
Treatment and control of infectious diseases in humans and animals play a vital role in prevention of illness and
death. Conventional drugs treatment has been providing effective therapy for treatment of infections caused by pathogenic
microorganisms; However, some do not respond to conventional therapy. Conventional therapy are expensive and have more
adverse side effects. Plant based medicinal productshas been used as an alternative curative for infections caused by resistant
pathogenic microorganisms, moreover, plant medicinal products have less adverse side effects. This study was conducted to
assess thecrude Combretummolle bark extracts antimicrobial activityagainst three selected bacteria species. Three solvents,
distilled water; ethanol and acetone were used for crude combretum molle bark extraction. The agar well diffusion method was
used to assess antimicrobial activity against Streptococcus pyogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli. A
minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) of the most active extracts was determined by the broth dilution technique. Extracts
from three solvents tested demonstrated antimicrobial activity with zone of inhibition diameters ranging from 14 to 24 mm.
Acetone extract was the most potent with its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranging from 1.25 to 2.50 mg/ml. There
was no statistically significant difference (P>0.05) in the potency of the three extracts and standard antibiotic ciprofloxacin on
the bacteria species tested. The study showed that the crude bark extract of C. molle has antimicrobial activity against all the
test microorganisms.
