Antibacterial Properties of Boerhavia diffusa and Huntaria umbellata on Bacteria Isolated from Blood Samples of Malaria Patients.

Malaria remains a major infectious disease ravaging the tropical part of the world with more deleterious effects on tropical low- and middle-income nations. Aside from the complications, secondary infections by bacteria have become rampant; hence, the need for the antibacterial properties of Boerhaavia diffusa and Huntaria umbellate extracts. Bioactive ingredients of the plants were extracted using standard methods and the extracts were subjected to filtration using a membrane-injection filter. Malaria positive blood samples were obtained and the bacteria present in them were isolated and identified before subjecting them to sensitivity test on the extracts. The results showed that steroids and tannin were not detected in both cold and hot water extracts while glycoside was the most abundant in the extracts, followed by terpenoid and phenol. The probable bacteria generally identified are Acinetobacter, Escherichia, Klebsiella, Staphylococcus, Salmonella, Streptococcus and Pseudomonas. The bacteria with the highest frequency of occurrence were Salmonella and Staphylococcus. The least occurred bacteria was Pseudomonas. Both Staphylococcus and Salmonella had 28% of occurrence in all the samples. Salmonella was most susceptible to ampicillin having a diameter of zone of inhibition of 18.33±0.58 mm, while it was not susceptible at all to nitrofurantoin. Escherichia was most susceptible to tetracycline with a zone diameter of 14.33±0.58 mm, while Pseudomonas was most susceptible to ampicillin having a zone diameter of 10.00±0.00 mm. At 100mg/mL concentration, the highest diameter of zone of inhibition was 11.33±0.58. The results obtained in this study have shown that both B. diffusa and H. umbellate extracts have a high antibacterial effect.