Abstract:

Background: Oral candidiasis is amongst the most common opportunistic fungal infections caused mainly by C. albicans. Resistance of C. albicans to the most commonly prescribed antifungal agents such as azoles have been reported even in Tanzania. This imposes the need to explore alternative medicinal products. Plants such as O. sanctum L. are an important source of herbal medicine.

Methodology: Different concentrations of O. sanctum L. leaf extracts; (2.5mg/ml), (5mg/ml), (7.5mg/ml), (10mg/ml), 15mg/ml), (20mg/ml) were made in aqueous solution form and were tested against 20 C. albicans isolates. Agar dilution method using Muller Hinton Agar (MH – Oxoid, UK) supplemented with the different concentrations of the leaf extract was used to test for susceptibility against C. albicans isolates. The minimum concentration that inhibited the growth of C. albicans was considered as Minimum Inhibition concentration (MIC).

Results: A total of 20(100%), 13(65%) and 9(45%) C. albicans isolates were inhibited by O. sanctum L. extract at the concentration of 20mg/ml, 15mg/ml and 10mg/ml, respectively. Our results show the minimum inhibitory concentration of O. sanctum L leaves extract is 20mg/ml.

Conclusion: The study results revealed that the effectiveness of O. sanctum L. leaf extracts on pathogen C. albicans increases with the increased concentrations.