Synergistic Antimicrobial Effects of Indigenous Herbs via Electric Fumigation: An <i>In-Vitro</i> Study

Environmental disinfectant significantly reduces the incidence of nosocomial or hospital-associated infections (HAIs), which are major healthcare issues worldwide. To overcome the adverse effects with chemical disinfection, it is worthwhile to explore the alternative techniques with least or no side effects. The Fumigation (Dhoopana) is an age-old method described in ancient literature of Ayurveda which can be used in preventive as well as therapeutic applications. A comparative study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of traditional and modern fumigation by using a mixture of herbal ingredients. A newly developed electric fumigation device was used to generate the required fumes to perform the In-Vitro investigation on gram-negative and positive bacteria. There were 63% and 67.5% microbial load reduction in case of traditional fumigation for surface and air flora respectively while 88.6 and 90.3% reduction noticed in case of modern fumigation for the same. Monochrome staining and haemolytic activities were also assessed before and after the fumigation which states that herbal fumigation having potential to deal with various pathogens. These findings give scientific evidence in support of Ayurvedic sanitization strategy that can be fine-tuned to have implications in the clinical, healthcare, and food industries, where sanitization is crucial.