EYE and ear infections are amongst the most common diseases encountered in medical practice today, affecting people of all age groups. They are among the common reasons that compel individuals to seek medical attention. As with other infections, those of the eye and ear are usually treated with antibiotics, but in the last couple of years, there has been a lot of reports on treatment failures due to emergence and spread of bacterial resistance.

Resistance to common antibiotics represents a serious problem for clinicians and the pharmaceutical industry and great efforts are being made to reverse this trend. One of them is the widespread screening of medicinal plants use in traditional medicine to discover some newer, safer, and more effective agents that can be used to fight infectious diseases.

Azadirachta indica is one of such medicinal plants used in the treatment of different kinds of diseases including microbial infections. It is an extensively popular tree in Nigeria and is commonly referred to as Neem (English), “Dogon Yaro” (Hausa) and “Akun shorop” (Igbo).

Neem is a multipurpose timber tree from which high value products are extracted for use as an insecticide, fertilizers and multipurpose medicines. Some of the medicinal uses of neem include treatment of skin disorders, rashes and boils, stomach ulcers, wounds, rheumatism, respiratory tract infections, sore gums and throat, eye and ear infections, leprosy and diabetes.

Also, it is also used in the treatment of high body temperature, malaria, hair loss, premature graying, teeth and gum disorders, vaginal contraceptive and protects against STDs, irregular heartbeat as well as to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. It also helps to cure head lice, remove warts, heal diaper rash, as well as heal burns and hemorrhoids.

What is more, researchers in a follow up to a survey of plants used for the treatment of ear and eye infections, amongst the practitioners of traditional medicine and other knowledgeable rural dwellers in the northern parts of Nigeria, indicated that extracts of neem seed could be used in the manufacture of eye and ear drops or ointment for the treatment of common problems caused by germs.

The traditional medicine practitioners were reported to sometimes crush the seeds before squeezing the fresh juices into the affected eye and or ear repeatedly. In addition, the crude seed extracts are taken orally.

Ear infections occur mostly in infants and small children as compared to adults. When the ear is infected, it accumulates pus or fluid. It is the middle ear that is commonly affected by ear infection. The common symptoms of an ear infection are fever, pain or itching, hearing problem, nausea or vomiting and the accumulation of fluid in the ear.

The researchers stated in the Journal of Medicinal Plants Research that extracts of neem seed has the potential and can be used as a source for new broad spectrum oral antibiotics in the laboratory study that accessed its effectiveness on causative agents of eye and ear infections such as Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The 2010 study entitled “The antibacterial activity of Azadarichta indica (neem) seeds extracts against bacterial pathogens associated with eye and ear infections” involved A. M. El-Mahmood, O. B. Ogbonna and M. Raji, all from the Federal University of Technology, Yola, Adamawa State.

To establish scientific rationale for the use of the neem seeds in the treatment of infectious conditions, especially those involving the eye and ear, the researchers collected, dried and crushed fresh fruits of neem tree into a fine powder. The extract of the seed was then made from its powder. This was tested on specimen of germs collected from the inner surfaces of the infected eye and ear of patients in the hospital. Its effectiveness was compared with that from chloramphenicol, a common antibiotic used in the treatment of infections.

They found that extracts from both hexane and aqueous solvents inhibited the growth of both the test and control bacteria, though to varying degrees. Amongst the test bacteria, S. aureus was the most susceptible, closely followed by S. pyogenes, while E. coli and P. aeruginosa were less susceptible. But the activity of the crude seed extracts of A. indica was optimal under acidic conditions.

The researchers wrote: “The standard antibiotic chloramphenicol, demonstrated highest activity than the crude extracts. This is because the antibiotic is in pure state and has undergone some refining processes that have established it as standard antibiotic. The observed difference in efficacy may also be due to the fact the extracts were in a crude form and would contain some inert substances which do not have any antibacterial activity.”

According to them, “the observation that the extracts were effective against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria suggests that the active principles have a broad spectrum of activity and these confirm the use of crude extracts seeds of neem in folkloric medicines to treat eye and ear infections.”

In concluding they wrote: “the results of this study, supports the use of the crude seed extracts of the neem plant in traditional practice to treat infections especially those that affect the ear and eye, but only if adjusted to suitable conditions of pH and temperature, and provided the infections are caused by susceptible bacteria.”

Meanwhile, the leaves of neem are used in the treatment of ear infections as well. In India, juice from extracts of the crushed leaves is applied into the affected ear. It gives immediate relief to the pain caused by the ear infection. Also, other medicinal plants used in the treatment of ear and eye infections include garlic and extract of basil leaves.

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