THE ROLE OF PLANTS IN THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES CAUSED BY MICRO-ORGANISMS BASED IN THE NATURAL PRODUCTS

THE ROLE OF PLANTS IN THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES CAUSED BY MICRO-ORGANISMS BASED IN THE NATURAL PRODUCTS

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
1.1.1 Phyllantus
This is a genus of the family Euphorbiaceae. It was first identified in Central and Southern India in 18th century. It is called carry me seed, stone-breaker, wind breaker, gulf leaf flower or gala of wind, (Bharatiya 1992).
There are over 300 genera with over 5,000 species in the Euphorbiaceae world wide. The Phyllantus is one of the genus that falls under this enormous family.
Phyllantus has about 750-800 species, found in tropical and subtropical regions. Green medicine is safe and more dependable than the costly synthetic drugs,
many of which have adverse side elects (Joseph and Raj, 2010). The use of medicinal plants by man for the treatment of diseases has been in practice for a very long time. Screening of compounds obtained from plants for their pharmacological activity has resulted in the isolation of innumerable therapeutic agents.
Over 50% of all modern chemical drugs are of natural plant product origin and is essential in drug development programs of the pharmaceutical industry
(Burton et. al 1983).

THE ROLE OF PLANTS IN THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES CAUSED BY MICRO-ORGANISMS BASED IN THE NATURAL PRODUCTS