PORTGUAL: Lavender oil for fungal skin infection

Scientists have found that lavender oil could be used as a cheap and effective treatment, with minimal side effects, to combat the increasing incidence of serious human antifungal-resistant infections in skin, hair and nails. The oil could also act against infections responsible for conditions such as athletes' foot and ringworm.

"We report for what we believe to be the first time the antifungal activity and mechanism of action of the essential oils of Lavandula viridis from Portugal," the scientists stated in a study published in the Journal of Medical Technology in February.

Although relatively few types of drugs can be used to treat serious human infections caused by fungi, particularly among immune-compromised patients, most of these drugs have side effects. These include the increasing resistance to antifungal drugs, the limitations encountered in their treatment such as high toxicity, as well as the rising over-prescription and over-use of conventional anti-fungals.

These problems stimulated a search for efficient alternative natural drugs such as essential oils, which may be a cheap and ideal treatment with minimal side effects. Lavender oil is an essential oil obtained by distillation from the flower spikes of certain species of lavender and is already used widely, particularly in the food, perfume and cosmetic industries.

Lead scientist Mónica Zuzarte and colleagues, at the Centre of Pharmaceutical Studies at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, distilled lavender oil and tested it against a range of pathogenic fungi. They found the oil had a lethal antifungal effect against a range of skin-pathogenic strains, destroying fungal cells by damaging the cell membrane.

They demonstrated that the oil could be useful in the clinical treatment of fungal diseases, particularly candidosis caused by various species of candida as well as dermatophytosis caused by dermatophytes that cause infections of the skin, hair and nails, as well as fungal infection responsible for conditions such as athletes' foot and ringworm.

"Our results show that L. viridis essential oils may be useful in the clinical treatment of fungal diseases, although clinical trials are required to evaluate the practical relevance of our in vitro research," the scientists concluded.