Echinacea purpurea for the Long-term Prevention of Viral Respiratory Tract Infections during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Randomized, Open, Controlled, Exploratory Clinical Study

Kolev, E.; Mircheva, Lilyana; Edwards, Michael R.; Johnston, Sebastian L.; Kalinov, Krassimir; Stange, Rainer; Gancitano, Giuseppe; Berghe, Wim Vanden; Kreft, Samo

doi:10.1101/2021.12.10.21267582

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Echinacea treatment, when applied during acute episodes, significantly reduced the overall virus load by at ~99% (2.12 log10, t-test, p < 0.05), as well as the "time to virus clearance" by 8.0 days for all viruses (Wilcoxon test, p = 0.02) and by 4.8 days for SARS-CoV-2 (p > 0.05) in comparison to control. Additionally, Echinacea treatment significantly reduced fever days (1 day vs. 11 days, X 2 test, p = 0.003) [35].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Echinacea as a Potential Force against Coronavirus Infections? A Mini-Review of Randomized Controlled Trials in Adults and Children

Nicolussi¹,

Ardjomand‐Woelkart

Stange

et al. 2022

Microorganisms

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Echinacea purpurea has been shown to broadly inhibit coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. This review discusses the available clinical evidence from randomized, blinded and controlled human studies. Two RCTs capturing incidence of viral respiratory tract infections during Echinacea preventative treatment were identified including coronavirus infections. Incidence and/or viral loads were measured by RT-PCR and symptom severity was recorded. In a first study, Jawad et al. collected nasopharyngeal swabs from adults (N = 755) over 4 months of continuous prevention. Overall, 24 and 47 enveloped virus infections occurred, including 21 and 33 coronavirus detections (229E; HKU1; OC43) with Echinaforce® extract (2400 mg daily) and placebo, respectively (p = 0.0114). In a separate study, Ogal et al. administered the same extract (1200 mg) or control for 4 months to children (4–12 years) (N = 203). Echinacea reduced the incidence of enveloped virus infections from 47 to 29 (p = 0.0038) whereas 11 and 13 coronavirus detections (229E, OC43, NL63) were counted (p > 0.05). Respiratory symptoms during coronavirus infections were significantly lower with area-under-curve AUC = 75.8 (+/−50.24) versus 27.1 (+/−21.27) score points (p = 0.0036). Importantly, viral loads in nasal secretions were significantly reduced by 98.5% in the Echinacea group, with Ct-values 31.1 [95% CI 26.3; 35.9] versus 25.0 [95% CI 20.5; 29.5] in the control group (p = 0.0479). Results from clinical studies confirm the antiviral activity found for Echinacea in vitro, embracing enveloped respiratory pathogens and therefore coronaviruses as well. Substantiating results from a new, completed study seem to extrapolate these effects to the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infections. As hypothesized, the established broad antiviral activity of Echinacea extract appears to be inclusive for SARS-CoV-2.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Echinacea as a Potential Force against Coronavirus Infections? A Mini-Review of Randomized Controlled Trials in Adults and Children

Nicolussi¹,

Ardjomand‐Woelkart

Stange

et al. 2022

Microorganisms

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…After abstract screening and full-text reading, 152 RCTs were included in the analysis. All 152 RCTs were posted on the medRxiv server …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Preprint Postings of Randomized Clinical Trials on COVID-19 and Corresponding Published Journal Articles

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ImportanceRandomized clinical trials (RCTs) on COVID-19 are increasingly being posted as preprints before publication in a scientific, peer-reviewed journal.ObjectiveTo assess time to journal publication for COVID-19 RCT preprints and to compare differences between pairs of preprints and corresponding journal articles.Evidence ReviewThis systematic review used a meta-epidemiologic approach to conduct a literature search using the World Health Organization COVID-19 database and Embase to identify preprints published between January 1 and December 31, 2021. This review included RCTs with human participants and research questions regarding the treatment or prevention of COVID-19. For each preprint, a literature search was done to locate the corresponding journal article. Two independent reviewers read the full text, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool. Time to publication was analyzed using a Cox proportional hazards regression model. Differences between preprint and journal article pairs in terms of outcomes, analyses, results, or conclusions were described. Statistical analysis was performed on October 17, 2022.FindingsThis study included 152 preprints. As of October 1, 2022, 119 of 152 preprints (78.3%) had been published in journals. The median time to publication was 186 days (range, 17-407 days). In a multivariable model, larger sample size and low risk of bias were associated with journal publication. With a sample size of less than 200 as the reference, sample sizes of 201 to 1000 and greater than 1000 had hazard ratios (HRs) of 1.23 (95% CI, 0.80-1.91) and 2.19 (95% CI, 1.36-3.53) for publication, respectively. With high risk of bias as the reference, medium-risk articles with some concerns for bias had an HR of 1.77 (95% CI, 1.02-3.09); those with a low risk of bias had an HR of 3.01 (95% CI, 1.71-5.30). Of the 119 published preprints, there were differences in terms of outcomes, analyses, results, or conclusions in 65 studies (54.6%). The main conclusion in the preprint contradicted the conclusion in the journal article for 2 studies (1.7%).Conclusions and RelevanceThese findings suggest that there is a substantial time lag from preprint posting to journal publication. Preprints with smaller sample sizes and high risk of bias were less likely to be published. Finally, although differences in terms of outcomes, analyses, results, or conclusions were observed for preprint and journal article pairs in most studies, the main conclusion remained consistent for the majority of studies.

show abstract

“…99% (t-test, p<0.05), the time to virus clearance by 8.0 days for all viruses (Wilcoxon test, p=0.02) and by 4.8 days for SARS-CoV-2 (p>0.05) in comparison to control. Finally, Echinacea treatment significantly reduced fever days (1 day vs. 11 days, Chi square test, p=0.003) [40].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Echinacea as a Potential Force against Coronavirus Infections? A Mini-Review of Randomized Controlled Trials in Adults and Children

Nicolussi

Ardjomand‐Woelkart

Stange

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Echinacea purpurea was shown to broadly inhibit coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. This review discusses the available clinical evidence from randomized, blinded and controlled human studies. Two RCTs with results on enveloped viruses, respectively coronavirus infections during prevention treatment were detected. Incidence and/or viral loads were measured by RT-PCR and symptom severity was recorded. Jawad et al. (2012) collected nasopharyngeal swabs from adults (N=755) over 4 months of continuous prevention. Overall, 24 and 47 enveloped virus infections occurred, including 21 and 33 coronavirus detections [229E; HKU1; OC43] with Echinaforce extract [2400mg daily] and placebo, respectively (p=0.0114). Ogal et al. (2021) administered the same extract [1200mg] or control for 4 months to children (4-12 years) (N=203). Echinacea reduced the incidence of enveloped virus infections from 47 to 29 (p=0.0038) whereas 11 and 13 coronavirus detections [229E, OC43, NL63] were counted (p>0.05). Respiratory symptoms during coronavirus infections were significantly lower with area-under-curve AUC=75.8 (+/-50.24) versus 27.1 (+/-21.27) score points (p=0.0036). Importantly, viral loads in nasal secretions were significantly reduced by 98.5%, with Ct-values 31.1 [95% CI 26.3; 35.9] versus 25.0 [95% CI 20.5; 29.5] (p = 0.0479). Results from clinical studies confirm the antiviral activity found for Echinacea in vitro, embracing enveloped respiratory pathogens and therefore coronaviruses as well. Substantiating results from a new completed study seems to extrapolate these effects to the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection. As hypothesized, the testified broad antiviral activity of Echinacea extract appears to be inclusive for SARS-CoV-2.

show abstract

Echinacea purpurea for the Long-term Prevention of Viral Respiratory Tract Infections during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Randomized, Open, Controlled, Exploratory Clinical Study

Cited by 8 publications

References 26 publications

Echinacea as a Potential Force against Coronavirus Infections? A Mini-Review of Randomized Controlled Trials in Adults and Children

Echinacea as a Potential Force against Coronavirus Infections? A Mini-Review of Randomized Controlled Trials in Adults and Children

Comparison of Preprint Postings of Randomized Clinical Trials on COVID-19 and Corresponding Published Journal Articles

Echinacea as a Potential Force against Coronavirus Infections? A Mini-Review of Randomized Controlled Trials in Adults and Children

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About