Antimicrobial spectrum of Alchornea cordifolia leaf extract

The 50% aqueous ethanol extract of Alchornea cordifolia (Schum and Thonn) M uell. Arg. leaf was screened for activity against 74 microbial strains repr esenting aerobic, facultative and anaerobic bacteria as well as fungi. The panel of test strains included organisms from culture collections as well a s clinical and environmental isolates. A concentration of 5 mg/mL of extrac t inhibited 36.5% of the isolates and 95.9% were inhibited by a concentrati on of 20 mg/mL. Only three strains, all filamentous fungi, were not suscept ible to 40 mg/mL of the extract, the highest concentration tested. The extr act showed the best activity against gram-positive bacteria and yeasts with inhibitory concentrations against these organisms being under 5 mg/mL. The results demonstrate that the A. cordifolia extract has a very broad spectr um of activity and suggests that it may be useful in the treatment of vario us microbial infections. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.