African Journal of Microbiology Research Vol. 5(10), pp. 1126-1130, 18 May, 2011 Available online http://www.academicjournals.org/ajmr ISSN 1996-0808 ©2011 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Anti- tuberculosis activities of medicinal plants used in the treatment of tuberculosis in HIV patients in Nigeria Anochie, P. I. 1 , Onyejepu, N. 1 , Ogu A. C. 2 , Adetunji, M. A. 1 , Efere, L. O. 1 , Onyeozirila, A. C. 3 , Onyeneke, E. C. 4 , Onyeneke, C. N. 5 , Obinna, J. U. 6 , Srikanth, A. 7 and Bueno, J. 8 1 Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria. 2 Department of Medicine, University of Sheffield, UK. 3 Department of Medicine, Madonna University, Elele, Rivers State, Nigeria. 4 Federal Medical Center, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. 5 Department of Microbiology, Abia State University, Abia State, Nigeria. 6 Ogun State University Teaching Hospital, Ogun State, Nigeria. 7 School of Biosciences Technology, VIT University, India. 8 Grupo de Micobacterias, Instituto Nacional de Salud, Bogota, D.C, Colombia. Accepted 19 April, 2011 Local herbalists in Nigeria claimed that extracts of certain parts, that is, stem and seeds obtained from Crinum glaucum,Treculia africana, Erythrina mildbaedi, Ficus thonningii and Xylopis aethiopica are used to treat tuberculosis patients. We conducted a laboratory-based study of this claim scientifically using the procedures employed by the local herbalists. The Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain used in this study was obtained locally and characterized based on cultural and biochemical tests on isolates of bacteriologically proven tuberculosis positive patients. The M. tuberculosis strains were found resistant to all the extracts. There was no growth on the isoniazid drug containing medium which was used as control. There was growth on all the LJ medium containing the extracts. The results of these findings shows that the extracts of these plants exhibited no significant anti-microbial activity against M. tuberculosis and therefore not recommendable for clinical use as an anti-tuberculosis drug. Key words: Anti-tuberculosis, activity, medicinal plants, treatment, HIV patients, Nigeria. INTRODUCTION A number of antimicrobial agents already exist for various purposes but the search for new antimicrobial agents should be a continous one since the target microorganisms often evolve into new genetic variants which subsequently become resistant to existing agents. Many higher plants are known to produce antimicrobial agents (Sakuma and Tomiyana, 1967), and indeed extracts of plants from different parts of the world have been shown to possess antimicrobial properties (Malcom and Sofowora, 1969; Bhakuni and Bittner, 1974; Boakye- Yiadom, 1977). With the current trend in the biotechnology of plant tissue culture (Curtin, 1983), it would appear that man may soon have to depend on plants as a source of a *Corresponding author. E-mail: ip.anochie@nimr.gov.ng or philipanochie@yahoo.co.uk. number of antimicrobial agents since these plants will most likely continue to produce antimicrobial agents which could be used against infections by microorganisms. However, the local herbalists that use these plants for medicinal use did not do a scientific study of the aethiologic agents in these herbs before using on patients and as such, a laboratory screening of these herbs need to be carried out, hence the need for this study to determine and evaluate the anti-tuberculosis effects of Crinum glaucum, Treculia africana, Erythrina mildbaedi, Ficus thonningii, and Xylopis aethiopica which are medicinal plants used by local herbalists in Nigeria for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB ) in Human Immun Deficiency Virus (HIV) -infected patients. This study is to determine the potency of these medicinal plants against Mycobacterium tuberculosis which will help to develop new drugs against the infection from these local plants extracts which will in turn