Antimicrobial activity of some medicinal plants used for the treatment of tuberculosis in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Artemisia afra Jacq. Ex Willd., Carpobrotus edulis L. and Tulbaghia violacea Harv. were screened for activity against Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus and Mycobacterium aurum A+ strain using a two-fold microdilution bioassay. M. aurum is tuberculosis (TB) related strain that was used in this study. These plants were selected based on their use by South African traditional healers for the treatment of TB and symptoms of the disease. All three plants were extracted with water, ethanol and dichloromethane. The extracts of A. afra were found to be active against all the tested microorganisms. Only in the instance of A. afra and C. edulis did water extract show activity against M. aurum A+ strain. The ethanol extract of C. edulis showed very good activity against the Gram-positive bacteria only. Dichloromethane extracts of T. violacea were found to be highly active against all the microorganisms, except for K. pneumoniae.