Antihelminthic Activity in Aqueous Leaf Extract of Moringa oleifera Lam.

The objective of the study is to evaluate the antihelminthic property of Moringa oleifera aqueous leaf extract by studying the paralysis and mortality time of Tubiflex tubiflex (blood worm). The aqueous extract at 200mg/ml exhibited paralysis time of 1 minute and death time of 2 minutes which was on par with synthetic drug Albendazole at 20mg/ml. Crude condensed tannin paralysed T.tubiflex at 60 seconds with mortality time of 9 minutes at 1mg/ml. T.tubiflex was selected for the study since they share a similar anatomical and physiological aspects with the intestinal round worm. The study indicated that T.tubiflex was inhibited effectively by condensed tannin in Moringa oleifera aqueous leaf extract and perhaps might be more effective on the round worms as well, since it is consumed as vegetable for its nutritive and medicinal values in tropical and subtropical regions.