Anti-mycobacterium tuberculosis activity of polyherbal medicines used for the treatment of tuberculosis in Eastern Cape, South Africa

Background: The emergence of drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has become a global public health problem. Polyherbal medicines offer great hope for developing alternative drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Objective: To evaluate the anti-tubercular activity of polyherbal medicines used for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Methods: The remedies were screened against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv using Middlebrook 7H9 media and MGIT BACTEC 960 system. They were liquid preparations from King Williams Town site A (KWTa), King Williams Town site B (KWTb), King Williams Town site C (KWTc), Hogsback first site (HBfs), Hogsback second site (HBss), Hogsback third site (HBts), East London (EL), Alice (AL) and Fort Beaufort (FB).

Results: The susceptibility testing revealed that all the remedies contain anti-tubercular activity with KWTa, KWTb, KWTc, HBfs, HBts, AL and FB exhibiting more activity at a concentration below 25 μl/ml. Furthermore, MIC values exhibited inhibitory activity with the most active remedies from KWTa, HBfs and HBts at 1.562 μg/ml. However, isoniazid showed more inhibitory activity against M. tuberculosis at 0.05 μg/ml when compare to the polyherbal remedies.

Conclusion: This study has indicated that these remedies could be potential sources of new anti-mycobacterial agents against M. tuberculosis. However, the activity of these preparations and their active principles still require in vivo study in order to assess their future as new anti-tuberculosis agents.

Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis; in vitro activity, polyherbal medicines, South Africa

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