Natural Products as Alternative Treatments for Candida Species Resistant to Conventional Chemotherapeutics

Abstract

The genus Candida comprises more than 200 species, but few of them have been associated with human infections. C. albicans is the most important cause of disease. Other species such as C. dubliniensis, C. glabrata, C. guilliermondii, C. krusei, C. parapsilosis, and C. tropicalis are also being increasingly recognized as significant human pathogens. In recent years, the number of clinical infections caused by Candida species worldwide has risen considerably, and the incidence of resistance to traditional antifungal therapies is also increasing. There is an exigent need for novel antifungal remedies, and plants remain a vital source of these new substances, especially in low-resource countries. Natural compounds are potential antimycotic agents either in their nascent form or as template structures for more effective derivatives. The data and studies described in this chapter document the antimicrobial activity of plant extracts and essential oils against Candida species and show that medicinal plants can be a rich source of potential antifungal compounds.