Susceptibility Status of Fungal Burden in Thai Traditional MedicineM. Wuthi-udomlert*, S. Saraya* and K. Eiamratanawong
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The use of Thai traditional medicine has sharply increased over the past few years. Concerning health conscious, several safety measures and regulations have been applied to manufacturers and products available in the markets. Therefore, the microbiological quality of Thai traditional medicine should be complied with the microbial limit tests (MLT) indicated in the Thai Pharmacopoeia (TP). The MLT limit the detected number of bacteria and fungi in the sample and require the absence of Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Clostridium spp. In this study, 87 samples of herbal capsules, honey-pills, powders and tablets procured from 16 provinces showed that 26 samples (29.89%) (with 3 registered samples included) were not complied with the TP. The fungal burden of 42 isolates were representative species of Aspergillus (32 isolates) i.e. A. flavus, A. fumigatus, A. niger and A. terreus while others were species of Penicillium (8 isolates) and Rhizopus (2 isolates). All fungal isolates were tested against amphotericin B (AMB), fluconazole (FLZ), itraconazole (ITZ) and ketoconazole (KTZ) using broth dilution assay. The result demonstrated that all test isolates responded at the highest MFC90 (90% minimum fungicidal concentration) to FLZ (40.63 ?g/ml to 100 ?g/ml). The second highest was to KTZ in A. flavus, A. fumigatus and Penicillium and to ITZ in A. niger and Rhizopus. However, A. terreus revealed the similar value of MFC90 in responding to all tested drugs. This is the first study of the susceptibility status of fungal burden in traditional medicine and thus indicated the health risk aspect of immunocompromised people.
Keyword:
antifungal, fungal burden, microbial limit test, pharmacopoeia, susceptibility test, traditional medicine
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