Plant-derived volatiles may serve as future antifungals

A research team at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology has developed a novel screening method to identify antimicrobial properties of volatile substances. With this assay, they tested the vapour-phase-mediated activity of 175 essential oils (EOs) and 37 EO components. Approximately half of them proved active against the most drug-resistant type of Candida. In a context of fungi showing increasing drug resistance, these findings may be useful in both medical and agricultural applications.