Antifungal activity of Lippia sidoides Cham. (Verbenaceae) against clinical isolates of Candida species

Lippia sidoides Cham. is widely used in North-East Brazil to treat oral and vaginal infectious diseases due to its strong antimicrobial activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antifungal activity of the ethanolic extract of L. sidoides leaves against Candida species isolated from vaginal secretions taken from patients from Pernambuco, Brazil. Antifungal activity was performed by disk diffusion method (2000 μg/disc) and the minimum inhibitory concentration was determined. Fluconazole (25 μg/disc) was used as positive control. A bioautography was carried out to identify the possible active compounds present in the extract. L. sidoides extract was active as fluconazole against most of the 45 Candida strains tested. Eight strains were resistant to fluconazole and sensitive to L. sidoides extract. The bioautography pointed to thymol as the active compound. This study confirmed the ethnomedicinal use of L. sidoides to treat skin and mucosal Candida infections.