Adjuvant Therapy of Eucalyptusoil Significantly Improves Clinical Outcome in COVID 19 Patients

ABSTRACT

Background: Currently, there is no effective treatment available for COVID-19 infection. FDAauthorized drugs' emergency uses are still not widely available and not affordable to most patients in developing countries. Therefore, here we look for an affordable alternative therapy, Eucalyptus oil, which is already being used as a household remedy for respiratory infections in Indonesia. This study aimed to find out the role of Eucalyptus oil as adjunctive in coronavirus disease 2019.Methods: 50 mild-moderate COVID-19 patients were randomly assigned for a prospective clinical trial conducted in one of the academic hospitals in the eastern part of Indonesia. A group of 24 patients was given standard COVID-19 treatment as a control group, while another 26 patients were given standard therapy plus Eucalyptus oil as an adjuvant. Patients were followed for 15 days. The clinical symptoms, negative results of RT-PCR, and viral load were recorded during the study period. Clinical outcome symptoms parameter consisted of anosmia and cough. A negative result of COVID-19 was analyzed through qualitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Viral load analysis was undertaken by measuring the cycle threshold (Ct) values as indirect representatives. Results: There was a better trend of improvement of clinical symptoms among patients who received adjuvant treatment than the control group. Anosmia and cough were recovered faster in the treatment group. Negative proportion of COVID-19 RT-PCR is higher in treatment group than in control group (on day-10 53.85% vs 20.83%, p = 0.0163;on day-15 76.92% vs 54.16%, p = 0.0897), showing a faster conversion when administered with Eucalyptus oil. Cycle threshold (Ct) values of the treatment population are significantly higher on day-10 (representing the decrease of viral load) compared to those who received standard therapy only (p = 0.007). Conclusions: Using Eucalyptus oil as adjuvant of COVID-19 treatment promotes better recovery of clinical symptoms (anosmia and cough), faster conversion to negative RT-PCR result, and decreased viral load of mild-moderate COVID-19 patients.