Evaluation of in vitro efficacy of homeopathic medicine Secale Cornutum (Claviceps purpurea sclerotium liquid) against molds causing keratitis

Abstract

Mycotic keratitis/ keratomycosis continues to be a major concern to ophthalmologists. Homeopathic preparations have been employed for a variety of human mycoses. Secale Cornutum drug is used to treat various ailments but has never been explored for treating ophthalmic mycoses. Secale Cornutum is a nosode prepared from Claviceps purpurea, an ergot fungus that infects cereal crops. The present study is about isolating and characterising fungi from keratomycoses and exploring the in vitro efficacy of homeopathic preparation of Secale Cornutum on the ocular fungal isolates. Fusarium spp. (n=5), Aspergillus flavus (n=6), Bipolaris spp. (n=3), Exserohilum spp. (n=3) and Curvularia spp. (n=3) were obtained after processing the corneal scrapings employed for the study. The efficacy of Secale Cornutum against the fungal isolates was evaluated by plate assay, and minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined using broth microdilution. Secale Cornutum 10 M had a good inhibitory effect on the test fungal isolates. Except, for Secale Cornutum Q, all the other potencies tested showed significant (P