In Vitro Inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus (ATCC^® 6538™) by Artemether-Lumefantrine Tablets: A Comparative Study of Three Dosage Strengths

Antibiotics are progressively failing in the fight against infections due to S. aureus because the bacterium has an outstanding ability to acquire multi-antibiotic resistance and become resistant to most antibiotics. Multi-drug resistant S. aureus poses a major threat to the foundation upon which standard antibacterial chemotherapy stands, hence the need to consider non-antibiotic solutions to manage invasive bacterial infections. This study investigated the inhibitory activities of three dosage strengths of artemether-lumefantrine tablets against Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus (ATCC^® 6538™) and determined the minimum concentrations of the tablets that are able to completely inhibit growth of the bacterium in vitro.

The agar dilution and broth macrodilution techniques were used to determine the susceptibility of the Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus (ATCC^® 6538™) strain to artemether-lumefantrine 20/120mg, 40/240mg and 80/480mg tablets.

The most active inhibitor was artemether-lumefantrine 80/480mg tablet with a minimum inhibitory concentration value of 2.5mg/mL while artemether-lumefantrine 20/120mg and 40/240mg tablets exhibited moderate but equal activities against the test strain.

The study has revealed that artemether-lumefantrine, an antimalarial drug, also has anti-staphylococcal properties and inhibits S. aureus in vitro. This study presents the first report on the in vitro activity of artemether-lumefantrine tablet against S. aureus and suggests the need to consider it as an alternative in the treatment of staphylococcus infections.