Antifungal activity of oils macerates of North Sardinia plants against <i>Candida</i> species isolated from clinical patients with candidiasis

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is one of the <b>bigger</b> problem of public health: the rise of multi-drug resistant organisms causes a challenge in the treatment of infective diseases. Anti-Candida resistance to conventional antifungal agents has increased in the last period. Our research was intended to evaluate antimicrobial activity of oil macerate (OM) of <i>Helichrysum microphyllum Cambess.</i> subsp<i>. tyrrhenicum Bacch., Brullo & Giusso</i> and OM of <i>Hypericum perforatum</i> subsp. <i>angustifolium</i> against several clinical strains. The study included 30 patients with candidiasis who had not received any antifungal treatment before they were enrolled. A collection of 30 clinical isolates belonging to 5 different species of <i>Candida</i> spp. was selected for this study. The data obtained showed an interesting activity of both Oil Macerate especially against <i>C. krusei</i> and <i>C. parapsilosis</i>. On the contrary, <i>H. microphyllum</i> Oil Macerate has had a better activity than the <i>H.perforatum</i> especially in relation to <i>C. glabrata</i> and <i>C. krusei</i>.