Abstract:

Introduction: Typhoid and paratyphoid fever are among the diseases that are important cause of morbidity worldwide especially in developing countries, the problem is becoming worse due to resistance of antibiotics that is emerging. Due to this problem world attention is needed to search for new drugs that will have more antibacterial potential than the existing antibiotics especially from traditional medicines. Persea Americana (avocado) is a plant that has been used traditionally to treat typhoid and paratyphoid fever, but since there are no enough information about it, there is a need search for accurate and reliable information about this plant (Persea Americana).

Broad Objective: To assess the in-vitro effectiveness of Persea Americana against Salmonella spp.

Specific Objectives: To determine the susceptibility of Salmonella spp to Persea Americana. To compare the effectiveness of Persea Americana when water is used as a vehicle and when honey is used as a vehicle against Salmonella spp.

Methodology: This laboratory based study was done in MPL at CUHAS using Persea Americana extract to assess its effectiveness against 10 isolates of Salmonella spp isolated using standard laboratory procedures, susceptibility test was conducted using disk diffusion method, data were collected entered in Microsoft excel, then data are presented in tables, percentages and proportions.

Ethical Clearance: Before commencement of this study permission for head of department of microbiology laboratory at CUHAS was sought.

Results: All 10 isolates of Salmonella spp that were subjected to Persea Americana extracts which was extracted using water and honey and made into different concentrations were resistant. However the same isolates showed different zone of inhibition to conventional medicine ranging from (6-42mm).

Conclusion: From this finding Persea Americana has no potential antimicrobial activity against Salmonella spp, since all isolates were resistant.