...(Euphorbia hirta L.) decoction as alternative folkloric medicine 1 Sharon Rose M. Tabugo, 1Rolliebert B. Rampola, 2Edgar Vasallo Jr., 1Ma. Reina Suzette B. Madamba Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science and Mathematics, MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology, Iligan City; 2 Capitol University, Cagayan de Oro City ABSTRACT Euphorbia hirta L., plant is a pantropic weed, widely distributed in the Philippines. Folkloric use of tawatawa (E. hirta L.), as alternative treatment and prevention for various ailments has been promoted and patronized due to the increasing trend in the quest for inexpensive alternative medicines compared to commercial drugs. Nowadays, the traditional decoction preparation has been widely used however, the safety of its oral use against normal microflora, is still ambiguous despite traditional practice hence, this study. The disc diffusion method was used to determine the antibacterial activity against gram positive and gram negative bacteria (standard strains and clinical isolates). Antibacterial activity was tested on E. coli, S. aureus, B. subtilis and P. aeruginosa. Results show that there was no formation of any zone of inhibition as observed after 24 hrs. Thus, this justifies the traditional use of the plant as decoction treatment for various ailments. Various concentrations of crude extracts diluted in distilled water were also tested for comparison purposes but it yielded the same results as the decoction procedure. Since, the results...
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