Medicinal Plants Used by a Mbya-Guarani Tribe Against Infections: Activity on KPC-Producing Isolates and Biofilm-Forming Bacteria

The traditional use of medicinal plants for treatment of infectious diseases by an indigenous Mbya-Guarani tribe from South Brazil was assessed by evaluating the antibiotic and antibiofilm activities against relevant bacterial pathogens. Aqueous extracts from 10 medicinal plants were prepared according to indigenous Mbya-Guarani traditional uses. To evaluate antibiotic (OD600) and antibiofilm (crystal violet method) activities, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 35984 and seven multi-drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-producing bacterial clinical isolates were challenged with the extracts. Furthermore, the susceptibility profile of KPC-producing bacteria and the ability of these isolates to form biofilm were evaluated. The plants Campomanesia xanthocarpa, Maytenus ilicifolia, Bidens pilosa and Verbena sp. showed the best activity against bacterial growth and biofilm formation. The majority of KPC-producing isolates, which showed strong ability to form biofilm and a multidrug resistance profile, was inhibited by more than 50% by some extracts. The Enterobacter cloacae (KPC 05) clinical isolate was the only one resistant to all extracts. This study confirms the importance of indigenous traditional medicinal knowledge and describes for the first time the ability of these plants to inhibit biofilm formation and/or bacterial growth of multi-drug resistant KPC-producing isolates.