Title: Antimicrobial activity of natural products against Clostridium difficile infection
Introduction: Clostridium difficile is an anaerobic, Gram-positive, spore-forming bacillus. Disease is typically triggered by the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and causes self-limiting diarrhea to severe pseudomembranous colitis. The increasing frequency of hyper-virulent C. difficile strains, antibiotic treatment failures, patients with severe complications and cases with multiple recurrences have driven the search for alternative and new therapies.
Method: A number of fresh and commercial natural products were selected based on historical evidence, current usage level (trendy, popular or novel for gut health) and their feasibility. The highest possible concentration of each product was prepared and their antimicrobial activity was assessed against three reference strains of C. difficile using the agar well diffusion assay. Also, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and C. perfringens were used as the comparators in the experiment.
Results: C. difficile isolates showed the highest zones of inhibition against both fresh (juice and dried powder) and commercial (tablet) garlic products. Other natural products such as cinnamon, artichoke and peppermint oil showed some inhibitory effect against this bacterium as well. A number of products showed no activity such as coconut oil and ginger juice.
Conclusion: Some natural products such as garlic may be possible alternative therapies in treatment of C. difficile infection. They might be used as sole agents or in conjunction with other conventional treatments such as antibiotics for C. difficile infection. Further research is needed to investigate the potential antimicrobial activity of natural products against C. difficile infection.