Herbal Medicines Could Help Treat Bartonella Infections Effectively

Bartonella henselae is the causative agent of cat scratch fever. Herbal medicines could fight against this bacteria effectively, solving the problem of reduced efficacy of antibiotics against many tick-borne diseases.

Herbal extracts could treat Bartonella infections effectively. A new research funded in part by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation that tested the antimicrobial activity of botanical and herbal medicines against Bartonella henselae announced that the extracts of some herbal medicines have the potential to fight against this bacterium behind the cat scratch disease.

Cat-scratch disease (CSD) is a bacterial infection that spreads when an infected cat licks a person’s open wound or bites or scratches a person hard enough to break the surface of the skin. The bacterium that causes the infection is Bartonella henselae , which is present in about 40% of cats at some time in their lives. They get infected with the bacterium from tick bites.

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‘The current treatment for Bartonella infections with antibiotics such as doxycycline and rifampin does not seem effective in all conditions. However, extracts of Yellow-dye root, Eastern black walnut, and Japanese knotweed have higher efficiency against Bartonella henselae than these antibiotics.’

“With increasing rates of tick-borne diseases and a consistent concern about the overuse of antibiotics, this early research of herbals is extremely exciting,” says Linda Giampa, executive director, Bay Area Lyme Foundation.

For the current study, the team tested the efficacy of a panel of botanical medicines and antibiotics, including azithromycin, daptomycin, doxycycline, gentamicin, methylene blue, miconazole, and rifampicin against the growing phase culture of the bacterium. Based on the analyses, they found that

• Extracts of Yellow-dye root, Eastern black walnut, Japanese knotweed, Chinese skullcap, and Barbed skullcap had high activity against B. henselae

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• Extracts of Yellow-dye root, Eastern black walnut, and Japanese knotweed were able to eradicate all the bacterial cells within seven days

• Daptomycin and methylene blue reduced the viability of the bacteria to below 40%, whereas gentamicin, rifampin, and miconazole reduced it to below 50%

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• Doxycycline and azithromycin were able to reduce the viability of the bacteria only to 66% and 70%, respectively

While these botanical compounds still need to undergo tests in animal models and clinical trials, this study is the first to demonstrate that Eastern black walnut, Yellow-dye root, and Japanese knotweed have high activity against Bartonella henselae .

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“We are hopeful that future pre-clinical and clinical studies will continue to show that herbals have the same effect as this study and other recently-published studies,” highlighted Linda Giampa.

Source-Medindia