Medicinal plants against urinary tract infections

Among the infections, Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) is one of the major infections caused, and its being the second most common type of infection in the body.Several uropathogens are drug-resistant, and this limits therapeutic options.Therefore, alternative methods of treatment are sought after. Plants are the oldest source of pharmacologically active compounds, and have provided humankind with various medically useful compounds for centuries. Today it is estimated that more than two thirds of the world¿s population relies on plant derived drugs;Thus phytochemical screening of plant species, especially of ethnopharmaceutical use, will provide valuable baseline information in the search for new pharmaceuticals. Hence screening of antimicrobial plants for new agents poses an enormous challenge and is important especially with the emergence of drug resistant disease strains. It has only been in the past two decades or so that interest in higher plant antimicrobial agents has been reawakened world wide, and the literature in this area is becoming substantial.Hence this work was undertaken.