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Potential conflict of interest: K.G.K. is a shareholder in Auris Ehf, which funded the
Effective Treatment of study. Reprints or correspondence: Prof. Karl G. Kristinsson, Dept. of Clinical
Microbiology,
Experimental Landspitali University Hospital, Hringbraut, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland (karl@landspitali.is).
Application 2005 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.
0022-1899/2005/19111-0014$15.00
of Volatile Fluids into the Ear
Canal
Karl G. Kristinsson,1 Anna B. Magnusdottir,2 Hannes Petersen,2
and Ann Hermansson3
Departments of 1Clinical Microbiology and 2ENT, Landspitali University Hospital,
Reykjavik, Iceland; 3Department of Ear, Nose, and Throat, Lund University loa
Hospital, Lund, Sweden de
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Essential oils are volatile and can have good antimicrobial p:/
activity. We compared the effects of oil of basil (Ocimum /ji
d.o
basilicum) and essential oil components (thymol, carvacrol, xf
and salicylaldehyde) to those of a placebo when placed in or
the ear canal of rats with experimental acute otitis media dj
ou
caused by pneumococci or Haemophilus influenzae. rn
Progress was monitored by otomicroscopic examination als
and middle ear cultures. The treatment with oil of basil or .or
g/
essential oil components cured or healed 56%81% of rats by
infected with H. influenzae and 6%75% of rats infected gu
with pneumo- cocci, compared with 5.6%6% of rats in the est
on
placebo group. Essential oils or their components placed Au
in the ear canal can provide effective treatment of acute gu
otitis media. st
15,
20
16
Acute otitis media is one of the most common childhood in-
fections and is the leading indication for prescription of an-
timicrobials in children [1]. The main pathogens in this
disease are Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus
influenzae, and antimicrobial resistance in these bacteria has
become wide- spread and highly prevalent in some areas [2].
This has led to problems in the treatment for diseases caused
by these path- ogens, and treatment failures have become
more frequent [3]. National campaigns to reduce unnecessary
antimicrobial use stress that antimicrobials are often not
needed for the treatment of uncomplicated acute otitis media
[1]. An alternative treat- ment that does not require the
systematic administration of
Acknowledgments
We thank Gudrun Saemundsdottir, for contacting us with the original
idea; Maria Lis-Balchin (South Bank University, UK), for providing an
ex-
pert opinion on essential oils; and Stefania Bjarnarson, for offering 7. Opalchenova G, Obreshkova D. Comparative studies on the activity
excellent technical assistance. of basilan essential oil from Ocimum basilicum L.against
multidrug resistant clinical isolates of the genera Staphylococcus,
Enterococcus and Pseudomonas by using different test methods. J
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