The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    Treating oral thrush in HIV/AIDS patients

    Researchers at Tshwane University of Technology, in Pretoria, South Africa compared lemon grass, lemon juice, and gentian violet.

    First, the details.

    • 90 HIV-positive hospice patients with a diagnosis of oral thrush were randomly assigned to a treatment for 11 days.
      • Gentian violet aqueous solution 0.5%
      • Lemon juice
      • Lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus)

    And, the results.

    • Among those who completed the study, lemon juice and lemon grass showed significantly better results than gentian violet.

    The bottom line?
    The authors tell us that at the Moretele Hospice, due to financial constraints, the usual treatment for oral thrush is lemon juice directly or a lemon grass infusion made from lemon grass grown and dried at the hospice.

    Gentian violet is considered first line treatment for oral thrush in South Africa. But it’s not preferred by patients due to the visible purple stain, which stigmatizes them as HIV-positive.

    Lemon juice and lemon grass provide an alternative treatment.

    3/19/09 19:48 JR

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