THE EFFECTS OF CURCUMIN AND VITAMIN D COMBINATION AS INHIBITOR TOWARD SALMONELLA TYPHI BACTERIA GROWTH IN VIVO

Abstract

Objectives: The prevalence of typhoid fever was reportedly high, especially in the Asian continent, as many as 80% of cases came from slums inBangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, and Vietnam. Due to many cases of antibiotic resistance in typhoid fever, various effortshave been made by combining antibiotic therapy or active compounds with adjuvants and herbs. Curcumin is an active compound found in manyherbal plants, especially in the Asian Continent. Curcumin has an antimicrobial effect, presumably due to its ability to bind Vitamin D receptors (VDR)as a potential ligand. This condition increases the expression of cathelicidin antimicrobial peptides and eradicates bacteria. Vitamin D will definitelybind to VDR as well; on this basis, this study wants to prove the effect of the combination of curcumin and Vitamin D therapy in inhibiting the growthof Salmonella typhi.Methods: This study is a true experimental pre- and post-test design using colony calculation method to investigate the effectiveness of curcumin andVitamin D in suppressing the growth of S. typhi bacteria in peritoneal fluid male mice strain balb/c. Mice were divided into five groups randomly, namely,the negative control groups, Group I (curcumin 200 mg/BB/day), Group II (curcumin 400 mg/BB/day), and Group III (curcumin 200 mg/BB/day andVitamin D 200 IU/day), and the positive control groups (antibiotic levofloxacin). The intervention was carried out for 5 days. After the 5th day, micewere then maintained for 3 weeks to determine the amount of colony growth in the post-intervention period.Results: The comparison of the results between each group gave significance in the average number of bacterial colonies of intraperitoneal fluid.Each group gave a significant difference of <0.05. Curcumin has an activity as an antimicrobial, the higher the dose, the greater the number of bacteriainhibited growth. After curcumin therapy, 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg for 5 days, a decrease in the number of bacterial colonies in the intraperitonealfluid was found. This study concluded that curcumin has an antimicrobial effect on S. typhi. The groups with combination therapy of Vitamin D andcurcumin intervention also gave the same results.
 Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, the combination of curcumin and Vitamin D is able to inhibit the growth of S. typhi bacteria, even upto 30 days after infection.