In-Vitro Effectiveness of Selected Herbal Medicines used to treat Candidiasis that are Sold in Kampala City Centre
Abstract
This experimental study was carried out at Microbiology laboratory at Mulago National Referral Hospital to determine the in vitro effectiveness of ten different powdered herbal medicines obtained commercially from Kampala city centre that are used for treating candidiasis. The herbal medicines were given sample identification numbers for confidentiality which includeded S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8, S9 and S10. The herbal medicines were prepared in accordance to the prescriptions of the herbalists which involved obtaining the aqueous extracts of the herbal medicines by hot maceration using sterile distilled water and were screened for anti-candidal using agar well diffusion assays by preparing Sabourauds Dextrose Agar, plating it and making wells of 6mm where the herbal medicine extracts were pipetted. Only S8 showed some anti-candidal activity with a zone of inhibition of 7mm. None of the herbal medicines qualified for Minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) determination. Phytochemical analysis was done on the aqueous extracts of the herbal medicines which included analysis of flavanoids, courmarins, tannins and saponins.