Antityphoid Activity and Phytochemical Screening of Azadirachta Indica Leaf Extracts

Herbal medicines have been known to human for centuries and practitioners of traditional medicine have described therapeutic efficacy of many indigenous plants for several disorders. The study was aimed to determine the anti-typhoid activity of Azadirachta indica leaf extracts against Salmonella typhi and Salmonella paratyphi isolated from typhoid fever patients. A clinical isolates of S.typhi and S. paratyphi were obtained from patients attending Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, Kanowere tested against aqueous and methanol extracts of A. Indica leavesusing agar well diffusion method. The phytochemical screening of the extract was conducted using conventional laboratory methods. The result showed that the leaf extract of A. Indica contain alkaloids, tannin, anthraquinone, flavonoids, phenols and steroids. The result of antibacterial activity of the extracts against the test isolated indicated that the extracts were active against the isolate with higher activity shown by methanol extract (16.0 mm) when compared to aqueous extract (13.5 mm). Salmonella typhi was found to be the most sensitive isolate (15.8 mm) than Salmonella typhi (13.3 mm). It is concluded that the leaf extracts of A. indica were active against bacterial isolates associated with typhoid fever.

Keywords: Antibacterial activity, Azadirachta indica, phytochemicals, Salmonella typhi.