Antimicrobial activities of calotropis procera on selected pathogenic microorganisms

The antimicrobial effect of ethanol, aqueous and chloroform extracts of leaf and latex of Calotropis procera on six bacteria namely, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus albus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus pneumoniae and three fungi: Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Microsporium boulardii and one yeast Candida albicans were determined using agar well diffusion and paper disk methods. The results revealed that ethanol was the best extractive solvent for antimicrobial properties of leaf and latex of C. procera followed in order by Chloroform and aqueous (P<0.05). The ethanolic extracts of C. procera latex gave the widest zone of inhibition (14.1mm) against E-coli using agar well diffusion while 9.0 mm was recorded for the same organism in the disc plate method.The growth of six bacterial isolates were inhibited by the three extracts except P.aeruginosa and S.pyogenes that were not inhibited by the aqueous extracts of both leaf and latex of C.procera. Similarly, the growth of four test fungi were inhibited by ethanol and chloroform extracts while the aqueous extract was the least effective on the test fungi. The best antifungal activity was recorded in ethanol extract of C.procera latex against Candida albicans. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for the ethanol extract was between 5.0 and 20.0 mg/ml for fungi. This study revealed that the C.procera latex demonstrated strong inhibitory effect on the test organisms than C.procera leaf. The results therefore established a good support for the use of C.procera in traditional medicine (Afr. J. Biomed. Res. 11: 105 – 110)