Echinacea for the Prevention and Treatment of Viral Respiratory Infections and COVID-19

A study showed that Echinacea purpurea, also known as purple coneflower, effectively prevents several viral upper respiratory tract infections, including COVID-19.

A team of international scientists from  Virtus Respiratory Research, National Heart Lung Institute, Imperial College London, Clinical Research Center in Bulgaria, Charité – Universitätsmedizin in  Berlin, Italian Ministry of Defence, Precision Oncology Network (IPPON) in Belgium, and the University of Ljubljana, in Slovenia were all involved in the study.

Study Design

The study involved 58 people who took a commercial form of Echinacea, Echinaforce, and 60 in the control group (no Echinacea). The age range is 18 to 75 years old. The study duration is five months.

The number of smokers; overall co-morbidities, especially hypertension, were slightly higher in the Echinaforce group.

Prevention Dose

The Echinaforce group took 2,400mg  Echinacea a day divided into 800 mg three times a day for prevention.

Viruses tested

Both treatment and control groups were screened for viruses that usually cause respiratory tract infections. They are:

1. Rhinoviruses
2. Enteroviruses
3. Adenoviruses
4. Influenza A (including H1N1)/B
5. Parainfluenza 1/2/3/4
6. Respiratory syncytial virus A/B
7. Seasonal coronaviruses: 229E/NL63/OC43/HKU1
8. SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 virus)
9. Metapneumovirus
10. Bocavirus. 

Note that 4 to 10 are enveloped viruses. The viral envelope is the outermost layer of a virus and can evade the immune system.

Results

Prevention

5 months of EF use resulted in a 25% infection reduction with any respiratory virus that increased to 43% for enveloped viruses and to 48% for coronaviruses.

Interestingly, the strongest risk reduction (63%) was found for infection with SARS-CoV2 viruses, pointing towards a specificity
against enveloped viruses overall.

Infections occurred during breaks in Echinacea prophylaxis

The study was designed for the prevention group to take Echinaforce for two months, two months, and one month with two-week intervals in between.

During the two-week break between prevention cycles, respiratory viruses were present in 10 and 5 samples in the EF prevention and control group, respectively. Five were endemic pathogens, and three had the coronavirus NL63, one had parainfluenza, and another had a rhinovirus. 

Six in the EF prevention and four in the control group had SARS-CoV-2 infections, all of which remained asymptomatic.

Treatment

If any members of the Prophylaxis group developed an acute respiratory tract infection, Echinaforce was given 800mg of Echinaforce five times a day  (4,000 mg/day) for up to 10 days.

The treatment significantly reduced overall virus load by at least 99%!

The time to clear the virus was reduced by 8.0 days for all viruses and 4.8 days for SARS-CoV-2 compared to control.

Finally, Echinaforce treatment significantly reduced fever days (1 day vs. 11 days) but not the overall symptom severity. Both groups were allowed to take medicines to relieve symptoms. But the control group used more medications for symptomatic treatment.

No one was hospitalized for COVID-19 in the Echinaforce treatment group, but two in the control group did.

No serious adverse effects were noted in the treatment group related to Echinaforce.

Echinacea studies with the same findings

Nicolussi et al. made a study using the same Echinaforce preparation against COVID-19. They observed a 98.5% reduction on day 2 of illness and a shorter time to become virus-free or PCR negative. [2]

Another study by Jawad and others applied Echinacea extract continuously over four months and concluded that Echinacea inhibited virally confirmed colds and significantly prevented enveloped virus infections.  The safety profile was also studied, and the adverse effects were no different from placebo. [3]

In a laboratory test, Pleschka and his group found that Echinaforce is effective against the Human H1N1-type IV, highly pathogenic avian IV, and swine-origin influenza virus. [4]

Antiviral effects of Echinacea

In severe viral illnesses, the pro-inflammatory factors get out of hand and increase the disease severity. Meanwhile, the anti-inflammatory cytokines that control the inflammation get reduced.

Echinacea has adaptive immuno-modulating properties by reducing the inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and increasing the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. [5]

Immunomodulation allows the body’s immune system to work correctly to eliminate viruses.

A recent preprint study showed that Echinacea prevented the propagation of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern B1.1.7 (alpha), B.1.351.1 (beta), P.1 (gamma), B1.617.2 (delta), AV.1 (Scottish), and B1.525 (eta) and prevented cell entry and infection of SARS-CoV-2 pseudo particles.[6]

 

In summary, Echinacea effectively prevents and treats several respiratory tract infections of viral origin, including COVID-19.

 

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