Medicinal plants have been intensively screened for their bioactivity in order to treat various diseases in human. This study was performed to evaluate the antimicrobial and phytochemical properties of Sida acuta leaf extracts against selected wound microbes. The plant extracts were obtained sequentially using n-hexane, aqueous and acetone respectively in order of increasing polarity. The extracts were tested for their antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecium, Acinetobacter baumannii, Salmonella typhi and Pseudomonas aeruginosa using agar-well diffusion method. The sensitivity of the test organisms to the extracts was represented by zones of inhibitions (mm) at different concentrations. There was corresponding increase in the zones of inhibitions (mm) on the test organisms as the concentration of the extracts increased from 64 mg/ml – 512 mg/ml. Among the plant extracts, the aqueous extract of Sida acuta leaf revealed significantly higher zones of inhibitions (mm) from 7.50±2.12 - 25.00±1.40 on all isolates. This was closely followed by the acetone extract while the n-hexane extract produced the lowest zones of inhibitions (mm) on all the test organisms except for Acinetobacter baumannii which has 9.80±0.42 at the concentration of 512 mg/ml. Results obtained on the phytochemical analyses of the aqueous and acetone extracts revealed the presence of tannins, saponins, alkaloids and flavonoids. Hence, the antimicrobial effects of Sida acuta leaf extracts has been revealed in this study, therefore its controlled use should be encouraged in the treatment of wounds and other infections caused by these microorganisms.   Keywords: Antimicrobial properties, Isolates, Phytochemical analyses, Sida acuta

The increase in the prevalence of effects of many synthetic antimicrobial agents and incidence of multiple drug resistant microorganisms has spurred scientists on the research for plant-based antimicrobial of therapeutic potentials. The Monodora myristica has been used in Nigeria traditionally as condiments and has been harnessed as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of skin infection and dysentery. Aqueous, n-hexane and ethanolic extracts of the seeds was screened for antimicrobial activity against pathogenic microorganisms implicated in causing vagina infections. This finding showed that the efficacy of the extracts was concentration dependent. Aqueous, ethanolic and N-hexane extract showed varying degree of inhibition with different magnitude against the test isolates. Ethanolic extract showed highest activities against Candida albican, followed by Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae with 21.5mm, 19.5 mm each respectively. The same patterns of of inhibition was also observed in N-hexane extract. The antimicrobial effect of the two extracts were statistically not significant. The extracts had minimum concentration that ranged between 150mg/ml and 200mg/ml. The ethanolic extract showed more inhibitory effects compare to the aqueous and n- hexane extracts. The ethanolic extract found to contain highest quantity of phytochemicals while aqueous extract has lowest amount of the phytochemicals. It is therefore can be affirmed that Monodora myristica seed extracts could be exploited as therapeutic agents to drug resistant microorganisms.

The existence of all living organisms depends on water resource which is continually polluted, and is therefore of public health importance. This study investigated river water samples for physicochemical and bacteriological quality of post-office segment of Asa river in Ilorin using standard procedures and the isolates were also identified with standard methods. Eight selected antibiotics used were in this study to determine the trend of susceptibility of the microorganisms to some of the antibiotics. The values recorded for physicochemical parameters of the water samples were within the limits of WHO standard for safe drinking water. The temperature of the water samples ranged between 21.0 and 28.40C while water pH ranged from 7.1 to 7.5. The total heterotrophic count values ranged between 1.2×104 and 7.8×104 cfu/ml, total coliform count values ranged between 4.0×102 and 1.0×104 cfu/100ml, total fecal count values were between 0 and 5.9×103 cfu/100ml some of which were found to be higher than the WHO stipulated values prescribed for river water. Large amount of the bacteria isolated from this water indicated that the water source is a reservoir for many waterborne pathogens; this includes Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Salmonella sp., Shigella sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella sp., Staphylococcus aureus  and Streptococcus sp. Approximately 75% of the isolates were sensitive to ofloxacin and 50% of the isolates were sensitive to gentamicin, while the entire organisms were resistant to augmentin, cefuroxime, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone. It was inferred that, the selected of segment of the river analyzed revealed high levels of pollution with antibiotic resistant organisms hence not suitable for human consumption without implementing appropriate purification and  treatment regimen.