Herbal Remedies Offer Hope as Novel Antibiotics

A new study investigates the potency of 10 Indian wild plants against bacterial and fungal infections in the mouths of oral cancer patients.

Researchers at Pt. B.D.S. Health University (Rohtak, India; uhsr.ac.in/) took blood and oral swab cultures from 40 oral cancer patients undergoing treatment in the radiotherapy unit. Isolates were identified by general microbiological, staining, and biochemical methods, and absolute neutrophile counts were done using standard methods. The medicinal plants selected for antimicrobial activity analysis were Asphodelus tenuifolius Cav., Asparagus racemosus Willd., Balanites aegyptiaca L., Cestrum diurnum L., Cordia dichotoma G. Forst, Eclipta alba L., Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng. , Pedalium murex L., Ricinus communis L. and Trigonella foenum-graecum L. The antimicrobial efficacy of the medicinal plants was evaluated by modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method.

The results showed that the prevalent bacterial pathogens isolated were Staphylococcus aureus (23.2%), Escherichia coli (15.62%), Staphylococcus epidermidis (12.5%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (9.37%), Klebsiella pneumonia (7.81%), Proteus mirabilis (3.6%), and Proteus vulgaris (4.2%); the fungal pathogens were Candida albicans (14.6%) and Aspergillus fumigatus (9.37%). Out of 40 cases, 35 (87.5%) were observed as neutropenic. Eight medicinal plants (including wild asparagus, desert date, false daisy, curry tree, castor oil plant, and fenugreek) showed significant antimicrobial activity against most of the isolates, with Pseudomonas aeruginosa observed as the highest susceptible bacteria (46.6%) on the basis of susceptible index. The study was published on May 20, 2011 in the BioMed Central open access journal Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials.

"Natural medicines are increasingly important in treating disease and traditional knowledge provides a starting point in the search for plant-based medicines," said lead author Jaya Parkash Yadav, MD. "Importantly, we found that the extraction process had a huge effect on both the specificity and efficacy of the plant extracts against microbes. Nevertheless, several of the plants tested were broad-spectrum antibiotics able to combat bacteria including E. coli, S. aureus, and the fungi Candida and Aspergillus. Both desert date and castor oil plant were especially able to target bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which are known to be difficult to treat with conventional antibiotics."

Cancer treatments often have the side effect of impairing the patient's immune system. This can result in life-threatening secondary infections from bacteria and fungi, especially since many bacteria, like Staphylococcus aureus, are becoming multidrug resistant.

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