In vitro antifungal activity of Zataria multiflora essential oil, fluconazole and ciclopirox olamine against nonalbicans Candida species isolated from recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis

The aim of the present study was to investigate the antifungal activity of Zatariamultiflora essential oil, fluconazole and ciclopirox olamine against 44 non-albicansCandida isolates from patients with recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis. A set of C.glabrata (29 strains), C. krusei (3 stains) and C. patapsilosis (2 strains) were studiedusing Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) broth macrodilution method.The results revealed that 33 isolates were resistant (MIC=64 μg/ml), 4 isolates weresusceptible (MIC≤ 8 μg/ml) and 7 isolates had dose-dependent susceptibility (MIC= 16,32 μg/ml) to fluconazole, respectively. With regard to fluconazole, high resistance ratewas observed in C .glabrata and C. krusei. However, ciclopirox olamine was found toinhibit the growth of all non-albicans Candida species (MIC≤8 μg/ml). In this study,favorable antifungal activity against non-albicans Candida species was obtained by Z.multiflora despite having a wide range of MICs (34875-139500 μg/ml). The resultsindicated that ciclopirox olamine and Z. multiflora might be promising in the treatment ofrecurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis.