ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Mentha crispa in the treatment of women with Trichomonas vaginalis infection (TVI). METHODS: This was a randomized, double-blind, and controlled clinical trial consisting of three phases, pre-treatment, treatment, and post-treatment. Sixty female patients were randomized to a treatment group, M. crispa (24 mg) or secnidazole (2,000 mg), both consisting of single dose. RESULTS: After treatment the proportion of patients without TVI in secnidazole group was 96.6% and in the M. crispa group was 90%, no difference was found between groups (P = 0.6120). We observed improvement in vaginal discharge, malodorous vaginal secretion, dyspareunia, dysuria, pelvic pain, and burning and itching in the genital area in patients of both groups of treatment, with no statistically significant differences between them (P > 0.05). Adverse effects were significantly higher (P = 0.0006) in the secnidazole group (66.6%) than in the M. crispa group (20%), that being mostly nausea and metallic taste with statistically significant differences between treatment groups (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study is the first to show that M. crispa is effective and safe, representing an alternative for the treatment of TVI in women.
Subject(s)
Antitrichomonal Agents/therapeutic use , Mentha , Metronidazole/analogs & derivatives , Phytotherapy , Plant Extracts/therapeutic use , Trichomonas Vaginitis/drug therapy , Vaginal Discharge/parasitology , Adult , Antitrichomonal Agents/adverse effects , Double-Blind Method , Dyspareunia/parasitology , Dysuria/parasitology , Female , Humans , Male , Metronidazole/adverse effects , Metronidazole/therapeutic use , Middle Aged , Nausea/chemically induced , Pelvic Pain/parasitology , Plant Extracts/adverse effects , Pruritus/parasitology , Statistics, Nonparametric , Taste Disorders/chemically induced , Trichomonas vaginalis , Young AdultABSTRACT
Trichomoniasis presents a broad spectrum of clinical patterns ranging from asymptomatic to severe vaginitis and cervicitis. Despite its importance, very little is known about the genetic relatedness of its causative agent, Trichomonas vaginalis, and the clinical phenotypes. To address this question, analysis of restriction length polymorphism (RFLP) within the intergenic spacer of the ribosomal DNA (IGS) from 60 clinically defined isolates of T. vaginalis was performed. This is the first description of the IGS polymorphism of T. vaginalis. As expected, a considerable number of patients were asymptomatic (28%) while only 12% presented both leukorrhea and macular colpitis, the most evident symptoms of trichomoniasis. The IGS-RFLP with the use of eight restriction enzymes showed absence of correlation between the genetic relatedness of the isolates and symptomatology. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the importance of the IGS polymorphism to the parasite virulence and clinical phenotype.
