New research shows: Five herbal medicines may be more effective against Babesia duncani than antibiotics

New research shows: Five herbal medicines may be more effective against Babesia duncani than antibiotics

New study finds effectiveness of herbal medicine against Babesia duncani parasites

Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading funder of Lyme disease research in the United States, today announced the release of new data that found that five herbal medications in test tubes showed potent activity against Babesia duncani, a malaria-like parasite found on the West Coast of the United States that causes the disease babesiosis.

The laboratory study, published in the journal Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, was funded in part by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the California Center for Functional Medicine and the FOCUS Health Group, Naturopathic collaborated on the study.

"This research is particularly important because babesiosis represents a significant emerging health risk. Due to limited therapies and an increase in treatment resistance, current treatment options for this disease are inadequate, and many patients rely on herbal therapies for which there is only anecdotal evidence of effectiveness," said co-author Dr. Sunjya K. Schweig, MD, founder and director of the California Center for Functional Medicine and scientific advisory board member of the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, who has also studied herbal treatments for Lyme disease.

"More and more Americans with chronic illnesses are turning to complementary and alternative medicine to improve their overall health or quality of life. We hope these data inspire other researchers to explore similar treatment options for people with persistent tick-borne illnesses that do not respond to current treatments," added Dr. Sunjya K. Schweig, MD, added.

Current treatment protocols for babesiosis recommend the use of antibiotics such as atovaquone, azithromycin, clindamycin, and quinine, and their combinations. However, these regimens are often associated with treatment failure and significant side effects, even in immunocompetent patients. In addition, epidemiological studies have shown that up to 23% of patients with babesiosis also suffer from Lyme disease and its associated impairments.

According to this laboratory study, the five herbal medicines that have shown inhibitory effects against B. duncani are:

• Cryptolepis sanguinolenta
• Artemisia annua (Süßes Einjähriges Beifußkraut)
• Scutellaria baicalensis (Chinesischer Helmhelm)
• Alchornea cordifolia (Afrikanischer Weihnachtsbusch)
• Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanischer Staudenknöterich)

The study also found that the bioactive compounds obtained from Cryptolepis sanguinolenta, Artemisia annua and Scutellaria baicalensis showed comparable or even better activity against B. duncani than the commonly used antibiotic drugs quinine and clindamycin.

This is the first study to report the antibabesial effect of Scutellaria baicalensis. However, the antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects of Alchornea cordifolia and Polygonum cuspidatum extracts have been previously documented, and other studies have found benefits of combining Cryptolepis sanguinolenta compounds and artemisinin-based therapy.

These compounds need to be tested both in vitro and in animal models as well as in clinical studies. Although each of these herbal medicines is already in clinical use, it is important that future studies examine them directly in patients under specific clinical treatment regimens, as they can cause side effects in patients and should only be taken under the supervision of a knowledgeable clinician.

“Herbal medicines have been used successfully by various alternative medicine systems and ancient cultures,” said Linda Giampa, executive director of the Bay Area Lyme Foundation. "Patients with co-infection of tick-borne diseases often experience a greater number of symptoms over a longer period of time than those suffering from Lyme disease alone. This highlights the need for new treatment options for babesiosis, one of the most common tick-borne infections after Lyme disease. We hope that the results of this study are an important step towards the development of new therapeutic options for physicians and patients with persistent Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections.”