Abstract:
These days, people spend most of their daily-life time indoors, for example residence, school, workplace, shopping mall etc. Currently most buildings used air conditioning, if they have poor ventilation, it can affect a person's health. It can include temperature, humidity and microbe from outside, or exposure to other chemicals. Thailand is well suited for the growth of microorganisms. In general, microorganisms can grow well in high humidity environments (>60%) within porous materials, such as wood furniture, curtains and rugs. Disinfectants such as sodium hypochlorite are chemical agents that are commonly used for eliminating microbe on any surface areas. These agents are also harmful to human. Some of them are carcinogenic agents. This study aimed to investigate antifungal activities of cinnamon, clove, citronella and eugenol essential oils against environmental microbe. Antifungal activities of essential oils were performed by broth microdilution method in 96 well plate against a yeast reference strain Candida parapsilosis ATCC220019 approved by the Clinical Laboratory and Standards Institute (CLSI). Clove oil and Eugenol had anti-microbe effect against all strains with the lowest concentration. It had MIC value at 0.0875 %v/v for C. parapsilosis ATCC22019, C. albicans and S. aureus, 0.25%v/v for A. fumigatus, 0.5%v/v for T. asahii and 2% for B. cereus and P. aeruginosa. Citronella had more efficacy than clove when we used in vapour phase. This oil may have a potential for developing as an alternative disinfectant with safety than existing disinfectant used.