In-vitro study of the activity of some medicinal plant leaf extracts on urinary tract infection causing bacterial pathogens isolated from indigenous people of Bolangir district, Odisha, India

Thousands of people over the world are suffering from Urinary tract infection (UTI) each day. Side effects associated with the most preferred allopathic treatment for UTI and antibiotic resistance shown by the pathogens has evolved as major challenge. Owing to this, the present study was carried out to identify the bacterial UTI pathogens among indigenous people of Bolangir district, Odisha, India vis-a-vis explore the alternative source of natural therapeutics. Bacterial pathogens causing the UTIs were identified using the colony morphology, Grams staining and biochemical characterization techniques. Microbial inhibitory test of antibiotics and leaf extracts were performed using the disc diffusion and well diffusion techniques respectively. MIC and MLC were determined by broth dilution method. Binary probit model was used to determine the prevalence of UTI across people of different age group and gender. Four bacterial strains namely Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Klebsiella pneumoniae were identified as the causative agents of UTI among the people. The E. coli was identified as most infectious while S. aureus as the least infectious pathogen. Females in the age group of 16-30 years and male within 61-75 years were more susceptible to UTI. Among the tested leaf extracts, Tamarindus indica and Clitoria ternatea were more effective to treat UTI as compared to the tested antibiotics Ceftriaxone and Piperacillin. The leaf extracts of T. indica and C. ternatea may effectively be utilized for herbal drug development for treatment of UTI.