Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Propolis a 'Useful Adjunctive Agent' for Treatment of Keratitis

Keratitis Therapy
Researchers from Mustafa Kemal University report on findings in keratitis therapy
Drug Week, March 9, 2007

Current study results from the report, "Comparative trial of different anti-bacterial combinations with propolis and ciprofloxacin on Pseudomonas keratitis in rabbits," have been published. "The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effects of five different treatment combinations to find out whether propolis could be an alternative or an adjunctive treatment, in experimental Pseudomonas aeruginosa keratitis. Intrastromal P. aeruginosa strains were given to both eyes of 20 young New Zealand white rabbits. The rabbits were randomly divided equally into five treatment groups; ciprofloxacin and dexamethasone drops (C+D), ciprofloxacin drop (C), ciprofloxacin and propolis drops (C+P), propolis drop (P), 3% ethanol drop (control), respectively," scientists in Antakya, Turkey report.

"Directly before the first treatment and 108 h after inoculation, the eyes were examined by slit lamp to assess the corneal opacity and rabbits were sacrificed for bacterial count. The mean corneal opacity scores and the mean bacterial counts log cfu/ml were significantly different in the treatment groups (p=0.001; ANOVA). According to post hoc tests for both the mean bacterial counts and corneal opacity scores, C+D, C, C+P groups were found to be statistically the same (p >0.05), and although the P group had significantly better scores than the control group it did not reach the scores of the rest of the treatment groups (p <0.01)," wrote Y. Onlen and colleagues, Mustafa Kemal University.

The researchers concluded: "We conclude that propolis may be a useful adjunctive agent but should not be regarded as a replacement for traditional antibiotic therapy for P. aeruginosa keratitis in rabbits."

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