EVALUATION OF THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF TRICHOMONAS VAGINALIS TO MELALEUCA QUINQUENERVIA ESSENTIAL OIL

Trichomonosis is the most common non-viral sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the world. Due to the development of metronidazole-resistant isolates, therapeutic alternatives to 5-nitroimidazole are being investigated. T. vaginalis can be naturally infected with Mycoplasma hominis, Mycoplasma girerdii and Trichomonas vaginalis virus (TVV). Objective: 1) The essential oil from Melaleuca quinquenervia was used to test the anti-trichomonas activity. 2) Symbiosis was checked to determine whether there is any correlation between T. vaginalis – infected and T. vaginalis - free with esssential oil. Materials and methods: A total of 32 T. vaginalis isolates from Hue province subjected to susceptibility testing against essential oils by broth microdilution method. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the presense of M. hominis and M. girerdii. TVV haboring protozoan was identified by total RNA extraction. Result: The M. quinquenervia essential oil showed antitrichomonal activity at the mean of MIC at 0.15 ± 0.07% after 24 hours and 0.09 ± 0.05% after 48 hours. There was no significant differences in MIC of essential oil to T. vaginalis-microorganisminfected and T. vaginalis-free. Conclusion: M. quinquenervia essential oil can be used as potential therapeutic natural resource for development of antitrichomonal drugs, to not only T. vaginalis-free isolates but also T. vaginalis-infected isolates.