In vitro Antifungal Activity of Some Indigenous Medicinal Plant Extracts against Five Isolates of Aspergillus fumigatus

Abstract

There is a constant exposure of humans to Aspergillus mold fungus and 95 % of the pathogenic species. It is important to study drugs with new efficacy against infections because of increased prevalence of infections resistant to antibiotics. The present study aims to assess the antifungal activity of aqueous and ethanol plant extracts (cinnamon, garlic, ginger and guava) against five isolates of the opportunistic mold Aspergillus fumigatus. The results showed that effect of ethanol and aqueous extracts of cinnamon was same on all the five isolates of Aspergillus fumigatus. The recorded diameters of inhibition zone for isolates 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 exerted by the cinnamon ethanol extracts were 41, 46, 40, 45 and 46 mm respectively. Moreover, ginger was excluded in next experiments because all the isolates showed resistance against the aqueous and ethanol extract of ginger, except for isolate 5. Minimum inhibitory concentration was 2 mg/ ml ethanol extract of garlic and cinnamon whereas that of aqueous extract of garlic and cinnamon was 40 mg/ml and 10 mg/ml, respectively. The study concluded that ethanol extract of cinnamon can be used as antimycotic agent against Aspergillus fumigatus to treat diseases but it is urged to detect the sensitivity of fungal isolate to the extract before using as different responses are provided by isolates in a wide range of extracts.