With the increasing incidence of tuberculosis and
rated second to HIV-AIDS by the World Health Organisation as
a leading cause of death from infectious disease and increased
resistance to drugs currently in use, there is therefore the need
for alternative sources of drugs for the treatment of this disease.
Pinus glabra presents as a potential candidate for such drugs
discovery. Concoctions derived from the plant have been used to
treat cases of rheumatism, cough, piles and catarrh. Sample
extraction was performed by soaking the stem samples in ethanol
for 172 h, which gave reddish-yellow oil after removal of the
ethanol solvent. The oil was partitioned between 1:1
water/chloroform mixture. The aqueous layer was further
partitioned separately with ethyl acetate and hexane. The
phytochemical screening of the crude ethanol extract revealed
the presence of alkaloids, saponins, tannins and flavonoids.
Antimicrobial tests were performed on the crude ethanol extract,
ethyl acetate and hexane fractions against clinical isolates
Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa
and Klebsiella sp. by measurement of zones of inhibition. All test
samples exhibited significant antimicrobial activity against the
organisms albeit to different extent
