ABSTRACT
Despite the evolution of modern medicine, traditional medicine remains widespread in developing countries and its use continues to increase in industrialized countries.It is the same way that the effectiveness of the hydroalcoholic extract of Terminalia ivorensis was tested on the feet fungus disease of volunteers. Objective: The present work is oriented in the preparation of an antimicrobial hydroalcoholic extract of Terminalia ivorensis, a medicinal plant in order to enhance it. Materials and Methods: One hundred (100) grams of powder from trunk bark’s Terminalia ivorensis were extracted by homogenisation in a solvent mixture of 70% ethanol and 30% distilled water in a blender. After six grinding cycles, the homogenate obtained in each case was first wrung out in a clean white cloth square and then successively filtered twice on cotton wool and on Whatman 3 mm filter paper. The filtrate obtained was dried in a Venticell oven. The powder obtained constitutes the hydroalcoholic extract (or The 70% hydroethanolic extract). The 70% hydroethanolic extract of Terminalia ivorensis obtained was mixed with water to obtain a pasty liquid form before being tested on feet fungus disease using a cotton ball. Results: The extract had activity on these different shapes of feet fungus disease with a marked improvement. The volunteers who finished their treatment have been cured of feet fungus disease. Conclusion: The treatment results obtained revealed that the hydroalcoholic extract has good antimicrobial activity. The hydroalcoholic extract can be an undeniable source for the development of Improved Traditional Medicines (ITM) against feet fungus disease.
ABSTRACT
We compared 100 HIV-infected and 100 non-infected adult patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) to evaluate the association between the HIV status and the microscopic yield, and between the HIV status and the grading of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) sputum smears. We stained specimens by Ziehl-Neelsen hot method. The first serial sputum smears diagnosed 89 por cento HIV- infected and 94 por cento uninfected. The additional yields of the second and third sputum smears identified respectively 10 por cento and 1 por cento among the HIV-infected against 5 por cento and 1 por cento among the patients without HIV. Considering grading of AFB, the HIV- positive patients were more scanty and less positive 2+ and 3+ at the first (P=0.089) and the second sputum smears (P=0.010). For the second AFB-smears grading, there was a significant difference between HIV-infected and uninfected among the males (P=0.031), the group of age ranging from 15 to 44 years old (P=0.003) and among the ambulatory patients (P=0.015); when we analyzed data for subgroups by HIV serological status, the difference was not significant in the results among the females (P=0.417) and the TB-hospitalized (P=0.501). In conclusion, the morning sputum smears improved the diagnostic yield in both HIV-infected and uninfected patients. However, globally the frequency of scanty was significantly associated with HIV serological status.