Antifungal Activity of Cinnamon Oil and Olive Oil Against Candida Spp. Isolated from Blood Stream Infections

Introduction: Recently non-albicans Candida has emerged as a major cause of morbidity and mortality in blood stream infections. Some species of the Candida are becoming increasingly resistant to first line and second line antifungals such as echinocandins and fluconazole. In view of increasing global antifungal resistance, role of alternative and better antifungals like natural plant products need to be explored. Essential oils are known to exhibit antimicrobial activity against various fungi. Hence, we evaluated the efficacy of cinnamon oil and olive oil against Candida spp.

Aim: To evaluate the invitro antifungal activity of olive oil and cinnamon oil against blood stream Candida isolates.

Materials And Methods: The present prospective observational study was conducted in the Department of Microbiology at a tertiary care teaching hospital during one year June 2011-July 2012. Blood samples were collected from 1376 patients clinically suspected to have fungal septicaemia, out of which 100 (7.2%) Candida isolates obtained, were speciated by conventional methods. Antifungal susceptibility testing of all the isolates was done against fluconazole, voriconazole as per NCCL (M27-A2) and against olive oil and cinnamon oil by agar well diffusion method.

Results: Prevalence of Candidemia was 7.26%. C. albicans (85.3%) and C. parapsilosis (85.7%) were most sensitive to fluconazole followed by C. tropicalis (67.4%). All isolates were 100% sensitive to voriconazole. Both oils were found to be effective against nearly 50% of the Candida isolates. About 55.5% of fluconazole resistant C. krusei strains were sensitive to olive and cinnamon oil.

Conclusion: Fluconazole resistant non-albicans Candida has emerged as major cause of Candidemia. Cinnamon and olive oil show marked sensitivity against albicans and non-albicans spp.