Plant extracts as alternatives for chemical disinfectants in veterinary settings in seven sub-Saharan African...

Extracts of many medicinal plants possess antimicrobial activities and have been suggested in many studies as alternative antimicrobial agents to overcome the increasing antimicrobial-resistant bacteria worldwide. But the potential use of these medicinal plants in disinfection received little or no attention, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

This review aimed at identifying from available literature candidate medicinal plants for use as alternatives for chemical disinfectants in resource-limited veterinary settings in seven African countries (Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, the Sudan and Uganda).

Online search in PubMed was conducted for literature from Africa on medicinal plants with reported antimicrobial activity. Then, five medicinal plants were selected based on documented antimicrobial activity of the aqueous extract, the plant part used for extraction, presence in all countries of the study, affordability and availability of sufficient online literature.

The selected plant species were Vachellia nilotica (L.), Aloe vera (L.), Citrus ×aurantiifolia, Hibiscus sabdariffa (L.) and Moringa oleifera (Lam). Available online literature on these medicinal plants shows activity of their crude aqueous extracts against many bacteria, fungi and viruses, but provides few information on the minimum inhibitory concertation (MIC) of the extracts.

The aqueous extracts of these medicinal plants can be prepared by simple techniques without sophisticated equipment. The long use of these medicinal plants in food or in ethnomedicine support their use as safe, accessible, sustainable and low-cost disinfectants in settings where chemical disinfectants are scarce, expensive, or supply-chain dependent. It should be emphasized that application conditions, concentrations and preparation methods require standardization and evaluation before practical use in disinfection.