JAC Advance Access published online on March 28, 2003
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, doi:10.1093/jac/dkg202
© 2003 by The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
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Original Article
1 Laboratory of Bacteriology
and Medical Mycology;
* Corresponding author. E-mail: mondello{at}iss.it.
Received 19 July 2002
; revised 27 October 2002
; accepted 9 February 2003
A tea tree oil (TTO) preparation of defined chemical
composition was studied, using a microbroth method, for its in
vitro activity against 115 isolates of Candida
albicans, other Candida species and Cryptococcus
neoformans. The fungal strains were from HIV-seropositive subjects,
or from an established type collection, including reference and
quality control strains. Fourteen strains of C. albicans resistant
to fluconazole and/or itraconazole were also assessed. The same
preparation was also tested in an experimental vaginal infection
using fluconazole-itraconazole-susceptible or -resistant
strains of C. albicans. TTO was shown to be active in vitro against all tested strains, with MICs
ranging from 0.03% (for C. neoformans)
to 0.25% (for some strains of C. albicans and
other Candida species). Fluconazole- and/or itraconazole-resistant
C. albicans isolates had TTO MIC50s
and MIC90s of 0.25% and 0.5%, respectively.
TTO was highly efficacious in accelerating C. albicans clearance
from experimentally infected rat vagina. Three post-challenge doses
of TTO (5%) brought about resolution of infection regardless
of whether the infecting C. albicans strain was
susceptible or resistant to fluconazole. Overall, the use of a reliable
animal model of infection has confirmed and extended our data on
the therapeutic effectiveness of TTO against fungi, in particular
against C. albicans.
Keywords: antifungal activity, tea tree oil, animal model, Candida spp.
In vitro and in vivo activity
of tea tree oil against azole-susceptible
and -resistant human pathogenic yeasts
2 Laboratory
of Comparative Toxicology and Ecotoxicology, Istituto Superiore
di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy
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