Vol3-1Art5

Shereen Abd Algaffar ^1,2, Kimberly Eadie ¹, Annelies Verbon ¹, Sami A. Khalid ², Nicolas Tesse ³, Wendy van de Sande ^1#

¹Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Department of Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; ²University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Omdurman, Sudan; ³Septeos, Research and Experimental Development on Biotechnology, Paris, France

Abstract

The skin-associated Neglected Tropical Disease mycetoma can be caused by bacteria (actinomycetoma) or fungi (eumycetoma), each requiring their own treatment, making time-consuming species identification necessary before start of treatment. Essential oils (EOs) are naturally produced mixtures that have both antibacterial and antifungal activity. However, their chemical content differs per batch, and might contain toxic molecules. To standardize the composition of these oils, SEPTEOS produced two chemically well-defined synergistic blends of cinnamon oil, CIN-102 and NOSOBIS to overcome these problems. Previously, it was demonstrated that CIN-102 had both in vitro and in vivo activity against the eumycetoma causative agent Madurella mycetomatis. Here, we examined whether these synthetic mixtures can inhibit the growth of other prevalent causative agents of actinomycetoma or eumycetoma. Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of CIN-102 and NOSOBIS were determined for the bacterial species Actinomadura spp., Nocardia brasiliensis, Streptomyces somaliensis, and the fungal species in Falciformispora and Madurella using the standard protocols for in vitro susceptibility testing of Mycobacteria and filamentous fungi from the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. MICs for the actinomycetoma causative agents ranged from 32 to 1024 µg/mL, while the MICs for the eumycetoma agents ranged from 16 to 256 µg/mL. These MICs were similar to those reported for cinnamon essential oils against other actinomycetes and fungi. In conclusion, both actinomycetoma and eumycetoma causative agents were inhibited in growth by chemically well-defined synergistic blends copying cinnamon essential oils.  

#Correspondence:
w.vandesande@erasmusmc.nl

Article info:
Received 31 March 2026
Revised 5 May 2026 
Accepted 7 May 2026 
Appeared online 15 May 2026
One Health Mycology 3(1): 71-78, 2026
doi.org/10.63049/OHM.26.31.5

Cite this article:
Abd Algaffar S, Eadie K, Verbon A, Khalid SA, Tesse N, van de Sande W 2026. Chemically defined synthetic cinnamon essential oils: a dual-action approach against mycetoma-causing bacteria and fungi. One Health Mycology 3(1), 71-78
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Keywords:
neglected tropical diseases, NTD, actinomycetoma, eumycetoma, essential oil, cinnamon

Article highlights:

• Application of drugs with activity against both actinomycetoma and eumycetoma will be beneficial in remote regions with limited diagnostic capacity.
• Chemically well-defined cinnamon oil can inhibit both actinomycetoma and eumycetoma causative agents.