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In vitro antifungal activities of Allium cepa, Allium sativum and ketoconazole against some pathogenic yeasts and dermatophytes.

Shams-Ghahfarokhi M, Shokoohamiri MR, Amirrajab N, Moghadasi B, Ghajari A, Zeini F, Sadeghi G, Razzaghi-Abyaneh M

Department of Mycology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modarress University, Tehran 14115-111, Iran. shamsm@modares.ac.ir

By using an agar dilution assay, the antifungal activity of aqueous extracts prepared from Allium cepa (onion; AOE) and Allium sativum (garlic; AGE) were evaluated against Malassezia furfur (25 strains), Candida albicans (18 strains), other Candida sp. (12 strains) as well as 35 strains of various dermatophyte species and compared with the activity of a known antifungal drug, ketoconazole (KTZ). All the AOE, AGE and KTZ were found to be able to inhibit growth of all fungi tested in a dose-dependent manner with maximum of 100% at defined concentrations. The results indicate that onion and garlic might be promising in treatment of fungal-associated diseases from important pathogenic genera Candida, Malassezia and the dermatophytes.

Published 5 June 2006 in Fitoterapia, 77(4): 321-3.
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