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Abstract
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Interest in medicinal and aromatic plants as a source of anti-microbial drugs has emerged, mainly due to increased
resistance in pathogenic moulds. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence and factors
influencing the presence of onychomycosis in immunocompromised patients as well as to assess the anti-fungal
activity of Zataria multiflora, Origanum vulgare, Heracleum persicum, Rosmarinus officinalis, Pimpinella anisum,
Thymus kotschyanus and Artemisia sieberi essential oils against nondermatophytic moulds. During the period of 5
years (2012–2017), a total of 379 patients with suspected onychomycosis were examined for mould etiologic
agents, with mycological examinations. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of essential oils were
determined based on the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI, M38-A) protocol. Among 379 subjects,
onychomycosis due to moulds was confirmed in 145 cases (83 males and 62 females, aged 20–80 years).
The most frequent moulds isolated were Fusarium solani (F. solani), followed by Scopulariopsis brevicaulis (S.
brevicaulis), Acremonium spp., Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus), F. oxysporum, A. flavus and Cladosporium spp.
All isolated moulds were sensitive to the essential oils, ranging from 20 to 530 μg/mL. The MIC values ranged
from 20 to 50 μg/mL for Zataria multiflora, 20–60 μg/ml for Origanum vulgare, 40–250 μg/ml for Thymus kotschyanus,
20–340 μg/ml for Artemisia sieberi, 50–490 μg/ml for Pimpinella anisum, 85–410 μg/ml for Rosmarinus
officinalis and 80–530 μg/ml for Heracleum persicum. The results confirmed the importance of nondermatophyte
moulds in fungal nail and toenail infections and efficiency of the essential oils, in different ranges, against the
moulds obtained from onychomycosis patients
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