| Title | Echinacea purpurea for prevention of experimental rhinovirus colds. | ||
| Author | Sperber, Steven J; Shah, Leena P; Gilbert, Richard D; Ritchey, Thomas W; Monto, Arnold S | ||
| Journal | Clin Infect Dis | Publication Year/Month | 2004-May |
| PMID | 15156472 | PMCID | PMC7107999 |
| Affiliation | 1.Department of Internal Medicine, Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, NJ 07601, USA. ssperber@humed.com. | ||
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the ability of Echinacea purpurea to prevent infection with rhinovirus type 39 (RV-39). Forty-eight previously healthy adults received echinacea or placebo, 2.5 mL 3 times per day, for 7 days before and 7 days after intranasal inoculation with RV-39. Symptoms were assessed to evaluate clinical illness. Viral culture and serologic studies were performed to evaluate the presence of rhinovirus infection. A total of 92% of echinacea recipients and 95% of placebo recipients were infected. Colds developed in 58% of echinacea recipients and 82% of placebo recipients (P=.114, by Fisher\'s exact test). Administration of echinacea before and after exposure to rhinovirus did not decrease the rate of infection; however, because of the small sample size, statistical hypothesis testing had relatively poor power to detect statistically significant differences in the frequency and severity of illness.