Aims: Medicinal plants have recently received the attention of the antimicrobial activity of plants and their metabolites due to the challenge of growing incidences of drug-resistant pathogens. The aims of this study were to determine the antibacterial activities of plant extracts used as ethnomedicinal in Egypt. Methodology and Results: Investigations were carried out to assess the antibacterial efficiency of 11 plant extracts used as ethnopharmacological among Egyptian native people against infectious diseases. Crude methanol, ethanol, chloroform, hexane, acetone and aqueous extract of plants were tested for antibacterial activity in vitro against ten bacterial isolates using the disc diffusion method test. Discs were impregnated with 2 mg/mL of different solvent extracts. Among all the crude extracts, the methanol extract showed the highest activity than other extracts. P. harmala and S. officinalis exhibited highest antibacterial activity against gram positive and negative bacteria while the remaining plants extracts showed less activity. All the plant extracts showed no significant effect against the Bordetella bronchisepta ATCC 4617 except the extracts of M. fragrans and L. sativum. E. coli is the most sensitive microorganism tested, with the lowest MIC value (0.5 mg/mL) in the presence of the plant extract of P. harmala and S. officinalis. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: Results obtained herein, may suggest that the ethnomedicinal Egyptian plants possess antimicrobial activity and therefore, they can be used in biotechnological fields as natural preservative ingredients in food and/or pharmaceutical industry.

Aims: The study focused on finding if there is any possible relation between the intestinal bacterial population quantitative and qualitative and the deficiency of the most important iron compounds as haem precursors. Methodology and Results: Blood complete picture and stool analyses were done to 750 volunteer cases whom were asked for these analyses by their physicians. Analyses proved that 560 cases representing 75.2 % were anemic as the RBC(s) based on counts of the total studied cases of less than 263 x 104 and the haemoglobin amount ranged between 7.2 and 11.3 g/dl, while the remainder 24.8 % of the volunteer sample was not anemic. A high male/female ratio of anemic cases, 1:27 was also documented. Considering that all the studied stool samples should be completely free from any parasites or any other anemia-related diseases was a priority. Bacteriological analysis of stool samples of the anemic cases resulted in the detection of high counts of total viable bacteria, exceeded 42 x 109 cfu/g, while it was never more than 26 x 106 cfu/g and decreased to 4 x 106 cfu/g in many cases in this study. Identifying of the 361 bacterial isolates, were found to belong to 12 genera and 19 species, 6 of them; Pseudomonas putrefaciens, Micrococcus luteus, Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus pumilus and Bacillus coagulans , were found and in high counts in the stool samples of only anemic cases. The ability of these isolates to compete for iron compounds such as ferrous fumarate alone or with glucose and phytate as activators or inhibitors to these abilities was investigated. Results proved 11 species out of the 19 identified species are capable to use and compete on ferrous fumarate as a haem precursor. Sensitivity test for the representatives of the 19 species and 6 of the most commonly used antibiotics in the Egyptian pharmacy, using standard disc method, revealed variable susceptibilities of almost all of them to more than one of the studied antibiotics, except Corynebacterium equatium, which was found very resistant to two antibiotics; colistin sulfate and erythrocin. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: The study finally concluded the strong role of intestinal bacterial counts and types as competitors on the haem precursor iron-containing compounds like ferrous fumarate.