Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Practice Uncertainties

Non-antibiotic options for recurrent urinary tract infections in women

BMJ 2017; 359 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j5193 (Published 23 November 2017) Cite this as: BMJ 2017;359:j5193

Rapid Response:

Herbal therapy for recurrent UTIs

I would like to underline and remind colleagues about the extremely powerful broad spectrum fungicidal and bactericidal activity, of carvacrol rich essential oil of oregano that has proved to be active, even against antibiotic and antimycotic resistant strains, without any side effects. [1][2]
Concomitant systemic or topical administrations of carvacrol rich emulsions of essential oil of oregano, with current systemic pharmacologic therapies must be pursued, in order to achieve synergistic effects.
Carvacrol has also antinociceptive[5] and potent anti-inflammatory activity[3][4].
No bacterial resistance has ever been observed.
References
[1] http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i939/rr-1
[2] http://www.bmj.com/content/322/7281/288.1/rr
[3] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22363615
[4] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22892022
[5] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23146035

Competing interests: No competing interests

27 November 2017
Stavros Saripanidis
Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Thessaloniki, Hellas