THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF THE VOLATILE OIL OF NIGELLA-SATIVA SEEDS IN MONKEY MODEL WITH EXPERIMENTAL SHIGELLOSIS

The volatile oil of Nigella sativa seeds was prominent in in vitro ant i-shigella activity against eight multiple drug resistant strains of S higella flexneri. The anti-shigella activity against Shigella flexneri Y SH-4 was observed in the sera of monkeys after 45-60 min of oral ad ministration of the oil. It exhibited promising in vivo anti-shigella activity against the same strain when tested in monkey models with exp erimental shigellosis, fully curing the infected monkeys within 3 days . The rectal swabs of the experimental groups became free of the chall enge organism on day 3 of treatment with the volatile oil. (C) 1998 Jo hn Wiley & Sons, Ltd.