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Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies 1/2014

Open Access 01-12-2014 | Research article

Assessing the antibiotic potential of essential oils against Haemophilus ducreyi

Authors: Zachary Lindeman, Molly Waggoner, Audra Batdorff, Tricia L Humphreys

Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies | Issue 1/2014

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Abstract

Background

Haemophilus ducreyi is the bacterium responsible for the genital ulcer disease chancroid, a cofactor for the transmission of HIV, and it is resistant to many antibiotics. With the goal of exploring possible alternative treatments, we tested essential oils (EOs) for their efficacy as antimicrobial agents against H. ducreyi.

Methods

We determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Cinnamomum verum (cinnamon), Eugenia caryophyllus (clove) and Thymus satureioides (thyme) oil against 9 strains of H. ducreyi using the agar dilution method. We also determined the minimum lethal concentration for each oil by subculturing from the MIC plates onto fresh agar without essential oil. For both tests, we used a 2-way ANOVA to evaluate whether antibiotic-resistant strains had a different sensitivity to the oils relative to non-resistant strains.

Results

All 3 oils demonstrated excellent activity against H. ducreyi, with MICs of 0.05 to 0.52 mg/mL and MLCs of 0.1-0.5 mg/mL. Antibiotic-resistant strains of H. ducreyi were equally susceptible to these 3 essential oils relative to non-resistant strains (p = 0.409).

Conclusion

E. caryophyllus, C. verum and T. satureioides oils are promising alternatives to antibiotic treatment for chancroid.
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Metadata
Title
Assessing the antibiotic potential of essential oils against Haemophilus ducreyi
Authors
Zachary Lindeman
Molly Waggoner
Audra Batdorff
Tricia L Humphreys
Publication date
01-12-2014
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies / Issue 1/2014
Electronic ISSN: 2662-7671
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-14-172

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