Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Dec;48(6):3699-3709.
doi: 10.1007/s11259-024-10528-4. Epub 2024 Sep 3.

Minimum inhibitory and bactericidal/fungicidal concentration of commercially available products containing essential oils, zinc gluconate, or 4% chlorhexidine for Malassezia pachydermatis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius canine clinical isolates

Alexandra Bergen  1 , Savannah Roemhild  1 , Domenico Santoro  2
Affiliations

Minimum inhibitory and bactericidal/fungicidal concentration of commercially available products containing essential oils, zinc gluconate, or 4% chlorhexidine for Malassezia pachydermatis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius canine clinical isolates

Alexandra Bergen et al. Vet Res Commun. 2024 Dec.

Abstract

Skin infections are common complications in both humans and animals. Because of the increased incidence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) skin infections, essential oils have been suggested as potential alternatives to the classic antimicrobials. The goal of this study was to evaluate the minimum inhibitory and bactericidal/fungicidal concentrations (MIC and MBC/MFC) of commercially available products containing essential oils, zinc gluconate, or 4% chlorhexidine. Microbroth dilution technique was performed on clinical isolates of MDR Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MDR-SP; n = 10), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA; n = 10), and Malassezia pachydermatis (MP; n = 10). For MDR-SP, essential oil-containing products showed median MICs of 1:240 and 1:320. The chlorhexidine shampoo had a MIC of 1:128,000 (0.312 µg/mL), whereas zinc gluconate products had median MICs of 1:320 and 1:160. Three essential oil-containing shampoos (MBC 1:40), the zinc gluconate (MBC 1:40), and the chlorhexidine (MBC 1:64,000 [0.625 µg/mL]) reached an MBC. For PA, essential oil-containing products showed median MICs of 1:30 and 1:80. The zinc-gluconate products had a median MIC of 1:160, whereas the chlorhexidine shampoo had a median MIC of 1:4,000 (10 µg/mL). Only the zinc-gluconate products (MBC 1:80) and the chlorhexidine shampoo (MBC 1:2,000 [20 µg/mL]) reached an MBC. For MP, essential oil-containing and zinc-gluconate products showed lower median MICs (1:4,800 and 7,200) for shampoos compared with other formulations (1:160 and 1:320), whereas the chlorhexidine shampoo had a median MIC of 1:80,000 (0.5 µg/mL). These results suggest that natural topical compounds can be an effective alternative to treat skin infections in companion animals. Further in vivo studies are needed to clinically confirm this study's results.

Keywords: Malassezia pachydermatis; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Staphylococcus pseudintermedius; Essential oils; Multi-drug resistant; Zinc gluconate.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Abendrot M, Kalinowska-Lis U (2018) Zinc-containing compounds for personal care applications. Int J Cosmet Sci 40:319–327. https://doi.org/10.1111/ics.12463 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Almuhayawi MS (2020) Propolis as a novel antibacterial agent. Saudi J Biol Sci 27:3079–3086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sjbs.2020.09.016 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Alnaimat S, Wainwright M, Jaber S, Amasha R (2015) Mechanism of the antibacterial action of (Leptospermum scoparium) oil on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and E. coli. The 2nd Mediterranean Symposium on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MESMAP-2)
    1. Bajer T, Šilha D, Ventura K, Bajerová P (2017) Composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil, distilled aromatic water and herbal infusion from Epilobium parviflorum Schreb. Ind Crops Prod 100:95–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2017.02.016 - DOI
    1. Bannoehr J, Guardabassi L (2012) Staphylococcus pseudintermedius in the dog: taxonomy, diagnostics, ecology, epidemiology and pathogenicity. Vet Dermatol 23:253–266. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3164.2012.01046.x - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

Supplementary concepts

LinkOut - more resources