Medicinal Plants Used for Combating Human Bacterial Diseases in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review

In Ethiopia, bacterial diseases cause the majority of illness and mortality. They have become great challenges to the country, and a great proportion of its population are utilizing medicinal plants as sources of medicine for fighting diseases. The aim of the present work was to present a compiled document to show the great potential of plants in fighting bacterial diseases for promoting future exploration, phytochemical and antibacterial test studies. To prepare the work, three steps were designed. First, ethnobotanical articles that were published starting from 2000 to 2025 were gathered from reputable databases: Google Scholar, PubMed, and AJOL. In the second step, screening and exclusion of the gathered articles were conducted. In the last step, data extraction and analysis were conducted. In this study, 168 medicinal plants (73 families) that were used to treat 10 bacterial diseases were recorded. Euphorbiaceae was the foremost family in species number, whereas Calpurnia aurea was the first as cited by 10 research works. The highest proportion of medicinal plants (89 species) were reported to treat diarrhea, followed by those used to treat gonorrhea (43 species). Leaf (38.2%) took the prime position as sources of traditional remedies. Many traditional remedies need several antidotes such as coffee, local alcohol, different parts and forms of plant species such as Allium sativum, Lepidium sativum, Cucumis ficifolius, and Ensete ventricosum. Medicinal plants were also reported with huge potential to be used as bactericidal chemicals. In conclusion, bacterial diseases are the greatest threat to Ethiopia and medicinal plants are the future hope for fighting them. Thus, further ethnobotanical exploration, phytochemical and antibacterial test studies should be conducted particularly on Ajuga integrifolia, Gomphocarpus purpurascens, Tephrosia elata, C. ficifolius, Rhus vulgaris, and Rytigynia neglecta used for the treatment of pneumonia and lung TB, respectively, for new drug discovery and sustainable utilization of the species.