“Thyme” to Counter Infectious Pathogens

Diseases caused by pathogenic fungi infect thousands of Americans each year.  Not only potentially deadly, invasive fungal infections, are developing resistance to well-established antifungal drugs. Bruce C. Campbell, now retired from the US Agricultural Research Service (Maryland, USA), and colleagues  targeted several key groups of fungi: Aspergillus molds, which can severely damage the lungs or other organs; Candida yeasts, which sometimes cause life-threatening conditions if they enter the bloodstream; and a Cryptococcus yeast that can lead to fungal meningitis, a dangerous swelling of tissue around the brain and spinal cord. The team utilized thymol, a compound extracted from thyme, in conjunction with  two systemic antifungal drugs(fluconazole and ketoconazole), finding that the combination was significantly more effective in debilitating target fungi than if either the drug or agent had been used alone. While the use of plant-derived compounds to treat fungal infections is not a new idea, nor is that of pairing them with antifungal medications, the research group’s studies elucidate some of the newest, most detailed information on the mechanisms likely responsible for the impact of powerful drug-natural agent combinations.