Maximum Inhibitory Dilution of Water Suspension Garlic Extract against oral Candida albicans Isolated from Patients Hospitalized in Intensive Care Unit

Aims: To determine the maximum inhibitory dilution (MID) of a water suspension of garlic extract against oral yeasts of Candida albicans isolated from patients hospitalized in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Study Design: This is a cross-sectional study used to determine the effect of garlic extract against oral Candida collected from hospitalized patients in ICU.

Place and Duration of Study: Sample: Oral yeasts of Candida albicans isolated from patients in ICU of the Hospital das Clínicas (HC - hospital school) of the Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG) (ICU/HC/UFG).

Methodology: A bulb of 5 g of fresh garlic was peeled and crushed in a sterile beaker; 0.16 g of the garlic mass obtained was diluted in 100 mL of sterile water and left to soak from 6 to 8 hours and covered in a laminar flow hood. After manual homogenization of the garlic and water solution and filtration, 10 serial dilutions from 1/2 to 1/1024 (800 to 1.56 µg/mL) were made in sterile test tubes containing 5 mL of Sabouraud dextrose broth (SDB) with the addition of chloramphenicol. Suspensions in autoclaved water, McFarland standard no. 3, of each sample of Candida yeasts from the oral cavity of 90 patients hospitalized in an ICU were prepared and 1 mL of homogenized Candida solution added to each test tube with its respective dilution. The test tubes were kept at a temperature of 37°C/24 h. The reading of the MID of each oral sample of Candida albicans in the presence of garlic water homogenized in SDB resulted from macroscopic observation of the first maximum dilution in which there was not turbidity of the Candidaisolate evaluated.

Results: All the oral cultures of Candida albicans were sensitive to the MID of 1/32 of garlic water solution.

Conclusion: The garlic water suspension proved capable of inhibiting in vitro growth of oral yeasts of Candida albicans of patients from a hospital ICU, showing potential fungistatic action in relation to the fungus evaluated.