Introduction
1.0. Background
There is growing awareness worldwide, for using medicinal plants, over the conventional
antibiotics, as an alternative
... [Show More] for the treatment, management and prevention of infectious diseases.
Indeed, conventional antibiotics are rapidly becoming less effective due to the emergence of
multi-drug resistance among microbial strains (Ali et al., 2015). This renewed interest in
alternative therapies may also have been prompted by an increased incidence of the disease as
well as opportunistic infections, especially in immunocompromised people who have become
difficult to manage with orthodox antibiotics (Badria and Zidan, 2004).
One approach to circumvent this challenge is to use bioactive plant phytochemicals (Singh et al.,
2009). The use of plants as phytotherapeutic agents is also relatively less expensive than
conventional medicines. When given in higher concentrations, they rarely have such drastic side
effects on the host (Saraf, 2010).Plants are known to have a broad spectrum of antimicrobial
activity and are a source of many of these compounds (Ayodele and Banuso, 2004).Most plants
have been shown to possess antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties (Ali et al.,
2004).These plants include Thymus vulgaris, Cassia fistula, Xylopia aethiopica, Allium cepa, A.
sativa and Anarcardium occidentalis (Amadi et al., 2007; Akpomie and Olorungbon, 2011).
The most important bioactive constituents of plants are flavonoids, tannins, phenolics, alkaloids
and their antimicrobial activity may reside in a variety of these phytochemicals (Gonclaves et al.,
2005).These phytochemicals are secondary metabolites present in plants that allow them to fight
against many disease-causing pathogens, so they have pharmacological potential (Husaine et al.,
2011).Persea americana (avocado) is one of the most important fruits used as food in most
tropical and subtropical countries. Different parts of the plant are used in herbal preparations.
The peel, leaves and fruits are used in the treatment of haemorrhagia, hypertension. The leaf
extract effectively inhibited herpes simplex virus type I and II (Sturluson, 2017). The seeds of [Show Less]