Subject(s)
Antinematodal Agents/therapeutic use , Ascaridiasis/drug therapy , Pyrantel Pamoate/therapeutic use , Adolescent , Anemia/etiology , Antinematodal Agents/administration & dosage , Antinematodal Agents/adverse effects , Ascaridiasis/complications , Child , Cholangitis/parasitology , Cholestasis/parasitology , Humans , Intestinal Obstruction/parasitology , Liver Abscess/parasitology , Pyrantel Pamoate/administration & dosage , Pyrantel Pamoate/adverse effects , VietnamABSTRACT
Burns are common in Vietnam, and because of economic constraints and limited resources for the import of appropriate treatments, the health authorities are obliged to rely on traditional herbal remedies. It is therefore essential to evaluate current drugs, one of which is the water extract of the bark of the tree Choerospondias axillaris. It has been used for many years in the Vietnam-Sweden hospital at Uong Bi in northern Vietnam. We assessed the efficacy of the remedy in an open, randomised controlled clinical trial, in which 20 patients with second degree burns were treated with the extract of the Choerospondias axillaris and 19 with saline gauze. The mean healing time was significantly shorter for patients treated with Choerospondias axillaris (11 days) compared with patients treated with saline gauze (17 days) (p < 0.01), and the number of wound infections was significantly lower in the Choerospondias axillaris group (7/20 compared with 16/19, p = 0.003). The bark extract was easy to apply and additional wound care was not usually necessary, while the treatment with saline gauze was laborious for both patients and staff and was much more expensive. The extract from Choerospondias axillaris is a convenient treatment for second degree burns in both children and adults.
Subject(s)
Burns/drug therapy , Phytotherapy , Plant Extracts/therapeutic use , Adolescent , Adult , Bandages , Burns/therapy , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Time Factors , Trees , Vietnam , Wound Healing , Wound Infection/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Herbal remedies are widely used in Vietnam alongside modern drugs. We assessed the diuretic effect of four traditional Vietnamese herbal remedies from Zea mays, Imperata cylindrica, Plantago major and Orthosiphon stamineus, all claimed to produce an increase of diuresis. No influence was recorded for the 12- and 24-h urine output or on the sodium excretion for any of the drugs when tested under standardized conditions in a placebo controlled double-blind crossover model. The present study indicates the need for critical review of the present recommendations regarding therapy with plant materials in countries relying on empiric traditions.
