Discover in this article a way to fight urinary tract infections using Essential Oils.

The bibliography is full of studies on the antimicrobial power of Essential Oils and currently, no one can deny the action of essential oils on bacterial strains resistant, or even multi-resistant, to antibiotics.

A recent approach involves combining the use of essential oils with antibiotics. This is a new strategy to overcome the problems of resistance and side effects associated with drugs. An example is a study on urinary tract infections.

Combining essential oil and antibiotic?

Tripti et al (August 2011) studied the combined effect of Pelargonium graveolens (geranium) essential oil and ciprofloxacin on the following uropathogens: Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis and Staphylococcus aureus.

This research reveals an astonishing synergy between the antibiotic and the essential oil against these pathogens involved in urinary tract infections.

These authors determined the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of Pelargonium graveolens essential oil and ciprofloxacin by the standard 'microbroth' dilution method and the interaction between these two agents by the 'checkerboard' method.

The measurement of the combined effect of the essential oil and the antibiotic was obtained by calculating the Fractional Inhibitory Concentration Index 'FICI' according to the formulas.

According to Rosato et al, if FICI ≤ 0.5 we speak of a synergistic effect of the two products, if FICI between 0.5 and 1 we speak of an additive effect, and when FICI is greater than 1, we speak of an antagonistic effect.

A winning synergy against infection!

The study by Tripti et al shows that the FICI for K. pneumoniae and P. mirabilis is equal to 0.375 and the FICI for S. aureus is equal to 0.5. The values of this 'FICI' index are therefore ≤ 0.5 for the 3 microorganisms tested, which indicates that Pelargonium graveolens essential oil and the antibiotic ciprofloxacin have a synergistic antibacterial action.

To confirm the potentiation of the antibacterial activity of ciprofloxacin by the essential oil of Egyptian Geranium Pelargonium graveolens against these 3 uropathogens, these authors proceeded to the development of the following isobolograms (= graphic representations of the phenomena of synergy and inhibition):

Conclusion :

In conclusion, the authors suggest the combination of Egyptian geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) essential oil and ciprofloxacin to treat urinary tract infections, which may reduce the effective dose of ciprofloxacin and minimize the side effects of ciprofloxacin.

In vivo tests are needed to assess the potential of this combination for therapeutic purposes.

We add that studies on the association of antibiotics with essential oils known for their antibacterial power are strongly recommended in order to go further in research concerning this promising field.

Sources:

• Tripti Malik, Padma Singh, Shailja Pant, Nirpendra Chauhan and Hema Lohani.2011. Potentiation of Antimicrobial Activity of Ciprofloxacin by Pelargonium graveolens Essential Oil against Selected Uropathogens. Phytother. Res. 25. Issue 8 pages 1225–1228.
• Rosato A, Vitali C, Laurentis ND, Armenise D, Milillo MA. 2007. Antibacterial effect of some essential oils administered alone or in combination with norfloxacin. Phytomedicine 14:727–732.