Some Nigerian anti-tuberculosis ethnomedicines: a preliminary efficacy assessment

Nigerian herbalists possess indigenous ethnomedicinal recipes for the management of tuberculosis and related ailments. A collaborative preliminary modern scientific evaluation of the efficacy of some Nigerian ethnomedicines used by traditional medicine practitioners (TMPs) in the management of tuberculosis and related ailments has been carried out.

Ethnomedicinal recipes (ETMs) were collected from TMPs from locations in various ecological zones of Nigeria under a collaborative understanding. The aqueous methanolic extracts of the ETMs were screened against Mycobacterium bovis, BCG and Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37Rv using the broth microdilution method.

Extracts of ETMs screened against BCG showed 69% activity against the organism. The activities varied from weak, ≤2500 µg/mL to highly active, 33 µg/mL 64% of the extracts were active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis The activities of the extracts against Mycobacterium tuberculosis varied from weak, ≤2500 µg/mL to highly active, 128 µg/mL. There was 77% agreement in results obtained using BCG or Mycobacterium tuberculosis as test organisms.

The results show clear evidence for the efficacy of the majority of indigenous Nigerian herbal recipes in the ethnomedicinal management of tuberculosis and related ailments. BCG may be effectively used, to a great extent, as the organism for screening for potential anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis agents. A set of prioritization criteria for the selection of plants for initial further studies for the purpose of antituberculosis drug discovery research is proposed.