The aqueous and ethanol extract of some plants and plant materials were screened for their in vitro anthelmintic effects against gastrointestinal nematodes of fowl were studied. The plant materials were extracted in distilled water (aqueous extract) and ethyl alcohol (ethanol extract). Screening of freshly prepared aqueous extract of three plant materials namely neem (Azadirachta indica), papaya (Carica papaya), korolla (Momordica charantia) and two patent drugs Eskanex® (Levamisole) and Eskapar® (Piperazine) were selected. Aqueous extracts of 25mg/ml, 50mg/ml and 100mg/ml concentration; ethanol extracts of 10mg/ml, 25mg/ml, and 50mg/ml were used for screening. Among the selected plants and patent drugs and all three concentration of aqueous extracts papaya seed was found best at 25mg/ml concentration (41%), 50mg/ml concentration (74%) and 100mg/ml (92%) followed by korolla (22%, 70% and 90% in 25mg/ml, 50mg/ml and 100mg/ml concentration respectively) against adult parasite and these plants namely papaya seed showed significant efficacy against infective larvae L3. Ethanol extracts of plants also showed significant efficacy against adult gastrointestinal worms at a concentration of 50 mg/ml. Among the selected plants and all three concentration of the ethanol extract revealed the highest efficacious plant (100%) at a concentration of 50 mg/ml. In all concentrations of ethanol extract papaya was observed as the best plant (100%, 98% and 84% at 50mg/ml, 25mg/ml and 10mg/ml concentration respectively) followed by korolla (100%, 93% and 74% at 50mg/ml, 25mg/ml and 10mg/ml concentration respectively) against adult whereas in case of larvae it showed significant efficacy. The present study suggests that papaya, korolla and neem are effective and can be used against the treatment of nematodiasis in fowl in alternative of patent drugs. More studies are needed to determine the active principles of pharmacological and toxicological assessment.

Morbidity and mortality due to diarrhoea continues to be a major problem in many developing countries. Water samples from different areas of Chittagong were collected and 22 Vibrio cholerae were isolated from the samples. In this experiment we found that 85% of the Vibrio cholerae  isolated  can grow at 6% NaCl whereas none of these  can survive at 8% NaCl. Most of the isolates were resistant to at least 2 antibiotics. 95.45% were resistant to ampicillin, 50% to erythromycin, 63.63% to nalidixic acid, 13.63% to cephotaxine, 13.63% to ceftriaxone and 27.27% to cotrimoxazol. Arjun bark extract was used as a biological tool to resolve the antibiotic resistant V. cholerae problem. Arjun extract inhibited the growth of V. cholerae at all concentrations and zone diameter increased with the increase of concentrations. The regression coefficient of the relationship between concentration and zone diameter varies from 0.75 to 0.984 for most of the isolates which indicates that there exists a linear relationship. This study revealed that Terminalia arjuna would be a good antibacterial drug in the treatment of Vibrio cholerae infections, provided if found effective and nontoxic through in vivo studies.Keywords:  Vibrio cholerae; Terminalia arjuna; Antimicrobial; Drug resistance.© 2011 JSR Publications. ISSN: 2070-0237 (Print); 2070-0245 (Online). All rights reserved.doi:10.3329/jsr.v3i1.6094                J. Sci. Res. 3 (1), 129-137 (2011)