Aims: To study the In-vivo anti-typhoid activities of ethanol stem bark extract of Bridelia ferruginea in albino rats infected with Salmonella typhi. Study Design: Experimental design. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. Between January, 2019 and June, 2019. Methodology: Fresh stem bark of Bridelia ferruginea were collected, dried, powered and extracted using 70% ethanol. Twenty – seven rats of same age between 90 -120 g in weight were selected and divided into 9 groups containing three each. The infectivity dose (ID) was determined with the clinical S. typhi. After which the rats were infected and orally administered various standard doses of the B. ferruginea stem bark extract (50-5000 mg/kg) accordingly for 7 days. During the treatment period, the fecal samples were collected to monitor the ability of the extract to reduce the fecal shedding of S. typhi. Also, the rats were weighed daily to establish the effect of treatment on their metabolism. Results: Ethanol extract of B. ferruginea Stem bark at concentrations of 50 mg/ml – 100 mg/ml, didn’t produce any zone of inhibition but from 300-5000mg/ml produce zone of inhibition (ZI) at 2.00-18.33 mm (P< 0.05) on culture of clinical S. typhi isolate and on typed S. typhi isolate zones of inhibitions were seen at concentrations 50mg/ml-5000mg/ml, it produced ZI of 8.00 – 26.19 mm(P< 0.05). Minimum inhibitory concentration of the ethanol extract on the clinical S. typhiis 300mg/ml while on the typed isolate the minimum inhibitory concentration of the ethanol extract was 2600 mg/ml on ethanol extract respectively. The MBC for the two S. typhi isolates were 300 mg/ml and 1000 mg/ml respectively. The in-vivo investigation showed the ethanol extract of B. ferruginea stem bark on S. typhi colony forming units per ml (cfu/ml) of suspensions of faeces of infected rats and treated with the ethanol extract of B. ferruginea stem bark decreased significantly (P< 0.05) as the days of the treatment increased while the cfu/ml of the infected but untreated group significantly (P< 0.05) increased. There were no significant (P< 0.05) difference between weights of S. typhi un-infected, infected rats treated with Ciprofloxacin and ethanol extract of B. ferruginea stem bark but weight of the untreated group significantly (P< 0.05) decreased. Preliminary phytochemical screening of stem bark of Bridelia ferruginea ethanol extract revealed the presence of saponins, tannins, flavonoids, glycosides and terpenoid were pharmacological importance. Conclusion: The in-vivo anti- typhoid activity of stem-bark ethanol extract of Bridelia ferruginea was found to be relatively safe against Salmonella typhi.

Aims: To study the effects of ethanol stem bark extract of Bridelia ferruginea on the hematological and histopathological parameters in Swiss albino rats infected with Salmonella typhi. Study Design: Experimental design. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. Between January, 2018 and June, 2018. Methodology: Fresh stem bark of Bridelia ferruginea was collected, dried, powered, and extracted using 70% ethanol. Twenty – seven rats of the same age between 90 -120 g in weight were selected and divided into 9 groups containing three each. The infectivity dose (ID) was determined with the clinical S. typhi. The dose of the B. ferruginea stem bark extract (50-5000 mg/kg) used in this study was administered orally for 7 days. At the end of the treatment period, the rats fasted overnight. Then blood samples were collected by cardiac puncture for haematological studies and thereafter sacrificed. Organs (liver and kidney) were excised for relative organ weight analysis and histopathological studies. Results: The infectious dose (ID) of S. typhi on experimental rats in this study was 3.2x106cfu/ml. The weights of liver and kidney in all groups under observation slightly increases (treated with ciprofloxacin and ethanol extract) when compared to the control(uninfected) except for the infected/treated where the weight was significantly reduced. However, The Packed Cell Volume (PCV) and Haemoglobin (Hb) of rats treated with a higher dose of the ethanol (5000mg/ml) extract increased significantly (p<0.05) when compared to the control(uninfected) while the infected but not treated reduced significantly(p<0.05) when compared with the uninfected, infected and treated with Ciprofloxacin and extract groups. The infected and untreated group has the highest reduction in red blood cell counts(RBC) with 3.40 g/l respectively which were significantly different at p  when compared to other treatment groups while a non-significant decrease was observed in the Red Blood Cell (RBC) of rats administered with various concentrations of ethanol extract and ciprofloxacin after treatment. White Blood Cells (WBC) of rats given the extract significantly reduced when compared with the control (un-infected) group while there was no significant difference in the lymphocyte count of rat administered the extract of B. ferruginea and ciprofloxacin. Neutrophils of rats in all groups significantly increased (p<0.05). However, the monocyte and eosinophil level were not significantly different from the control. There was dilation of sinusoids depletion separating the hepatic cord in place lined by kupffer cells and not necrosis with possible deposition of immunological materials observed in the liver of rats infected/treated with the extract at various concentrations. Similarly, there were loss of bowman capsule, severe karyolysis and several tubular drainages with possible deposition of immunological materials in the glomeruli basement of the kidney after treatment with the extract of B. ferruginea.  Conclusion: The stem bark ethanol extract of Bridelia ferruginea can be found relatively safe. However, excessive use might be toxic to the to the kidney and the liver.