A Comparative Study of the Effects of Jatropha multifida and Euphorbia hirta and Their Mixture on Pathogenic Growth Rate †

Abstract

Medicinal plants are used for the treatment of many diseases across the globe. However, some are expensive or not readily available. The increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant strains of pathogenic microorganisms constitutes an important and growing threat to public health due to the uncontrolled use of synthetic microbial antibiotics. Due to the side effects and the resistance that pathogenic microorganisms develop against common antibiotics, the extraction of biologically active compounds from plants has recently attracted a great deal of attention. This study was carried out to compare the effectiveness of two medicinal plants, Jatropha multifida, and Euphorbia hirta, with respect to the growth inhibition of pathogenic Escherichia coli. The results showed that ethanolic extracts of the mixture of the two plants presented the highest inhibition of the growth of E. coli. When used independently, Euphorbia hirta presented higher inhibition than Jatropha multifida.