The original use of agarwood was for anticorrosive deodorization in ancient China, as well as Southeast Asian countries. In Thailand, agarwood has been used for a long time as a traditional treatment for infectious diseases such as diarrhea and skin diseases [68]. Chen et al. [69] found that agarwood essential oil derived from A. sinensis, regardless of whether it originated from artificial or natural agarwood, had inhibitive activities towards Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus[69]. Extracts of agarwood (A. crassna), isolated by water distillation, supercritical fluid carbon dioxide, and supercritical fluid carbon dioxide with ethanol as the co-solvent, showed antimicrobial activities against S. aureus and Candida albicans, but were not against Escherichia coli [70]. Sirilak et al. [68] found that an aqueous extract of A. crassna leaves possessed an in vitro antibacterial action against Staphylococcus epidermidis, causing bacterial cells to swell and distort, inhibiting the biofilm formation, and leading to cell wall rupture. An ethyl acetate soluble fraction of ethanol extract from A. crassnaexhibited stronger antifungal (Fusarium solani) activity than ethanol extract [10]. Additionally, many other compounds had an antibacterial activity, such as compound 27, exhibiting inhibitory effect against S. aureus [8], compound 105 and 107 against both S. aureus and R. solanacearum, and compound 109against S. aureus [33]. Even though the antibacterial/antifungal effect of agarwood is definite, the inhibited microbial species are not completely known. Therefore, antibacterial spectrum investigation of agarwood should be carried out.
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