The anti-fungal effects of aqueous-extract of Malva sylvestris against three medically important fungi of skin and nail in humans

Abstract

The current study was conducted to evaluate the anti-fungal effects of aqueous-extract of Malva sylvestris (AEMS), a plant known as mallow, against three medically important fungi of skin and nail in humans. The study was focused on the use of locally-collected leaves that were subjected to an aqueous-extracting method. The extracted solution was dry-transformed into powder, which later was solution-based utilized as a triplicate for each of 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25mg/ml in a potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium against the growth of Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton rubrum, and Epidermophyton floccosum, three medically important fungi that cause skin and nail infections in humans. Two controls were used, a negative-control that contained nothing but the fungi (NC) and a positive-control that included 2mg/ml clotrimazole, an antifungal solution, and the fungi (PC). After 2-3 weeks of cultivation, the results revealed that the growth inhibition percentages were 5.19, 6.45, 40% against T. mentagrophytes, T. rubrum, and E. floccosum, respectively. The inhibition rate reached up to 100% against all fungi at 25mg/ml of AEMS. The study findings indicate important effects of Malva sylvestris aqueous-extract against the growth of skin and nail fungi of humans.