Broad spectrum herbal therapy against superficial fungal infections.

Skin disease associated with keratinized tissues in animal and human beings has been investigated. The essential oil of Eucalyptus pauciflora in vitro showed strong antifungal activity at 1.0 microl/ml against human pathogenic fungi, viz. Epidermophyton floccosum, Microsporum audouinii, M. canis, M. gypseum, M. nanum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, T. rubrum, T. tonsurans and T. violaceum. The oil has heavy doses of inoculum potential at 1.0 microl/ml. Moreover, it did not exhibit any adverse effects on mammalian skin up to 5% concentrations. Further, we formulated the oil in the form of ointment 'BSHT' (broad spectrum herbal therapy) (1% v/v) and subjected it to topical testing on patients attending the outpatient department of M.L.N. Medical College, Allahabad. Fifty patients were selected on the basis of KOH-positive results and diagnosed as either tinea pedis, tinea corporis or tinea cruris. After the second week of treatment, all patients were KOH-negative. At the end of medication, 60% of patients recovered completely and 40% showed significant improvement from the disease. No KOH-negative cases of relapse were observed when patients were re-examined after 2 months following the end of treatment. Thus, the ointment can be exploited commercially after undergoing successful multicenter clinical trials, which are in progress. Copyright 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel