Patients with acute leukaemia are predisposed to opportunistic infections. Microbiological and immunological investigations were done on patients with acute leukaemia and healthy control. Antimicrobial of cinnamon, clove, garlic and black seed oils were evaluated in vitro by an agar well diffusion assay. The most commonly isolated microorganisms were Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhimurium, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Candida albicans. Among infections, urinary tract infections represent 70%, septicaemia represent 20%, and gastrointestinal tract infections represent 10%. It could be concluded that gram negative bacilli were the most common infections in children with leukaemia. Also there were significant decrease in serum immunoglobulin A and complement component 3 for children with leukaemia who infected with microorganisms compared to leukaemia children who didnt infect with microorganisms. Cinnamon oil was the best antimicrobial oil from the other used oils (garlic oil, clove oil and black seed oil) against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans. The present study proved that children with acute leukaemia suffered from immunodeficiency especially during chemotherapy that made them susceptible to infections. Also cinnamon oil was more effective in inhibiting growth of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans. Cinnamon oil could be used as alternative drug to control the microbial infections rather than antibiotics to avoid their side effects.
Key words: Microbial infections, A lymphoid, Myeloid leukaemia
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