Moringa Oleifera Soap reducing bacterial contamination.
Moringa Oleifera could be very useful in places where soap or water is not available, and where this tree grows naturally.
It could also be a cheap and healthy hand-washing optional product.
Efficacy of Moringa Oleifera leaf powder as a hand- washing product. Other authors found that aqueous and ethanolic Moringa oleifera leaf extracts were effective against Salmonella.
Diarrheal disease are a common cause of morbidity and the leading cause of death among children under five, accounting for 19% of mortality in this age group [1]. Most of all diarrheal deaths of children under five years are in Africa and South East Asia [2].
The vast majority of diarrheal diseases are caused by bacteria, viruses and protozoa, mainly found in human faeces which are spread from the stool of one person to the mouth of another. Hands can act as a vector for transmission of faecal pathogens, either via direct person-to-person transmission or by contaminating food that is later consumed [3]. Hand washing after defecation and before handling food is therefore a biologically plausible mechanism for interrupting pathogen transmission. Hands are also transmission vectors for respiratory infections, and interventions promoting hand hygiene have been shown to reduce gastrointestinal and respiratory illnesses by an average of 31% and 21%, respectively [4].
Methods: The hands of fifteen volunteers were artificially contaminated with Escherichia coli. Moringa oleifera leaf powder was tested as a hand washing product and was compared with reference non-medicated liquid soap using a cross over design following an adaptation of the European Committee for Standardization protocol (EN 1499). In a second part of tests, the efficacy of the established amount of Moringa oleifera leaf powder was compared with an inert powder using the same protocol.