Echinacea battles microbial infections and viruses

Better Nutrition (1989-90), Feb, 1990 by Deborah Seymour Taylor

Echinacea Battles Microbial Infections And Viruses

Well-known to American Indians as an all-purpose medicinal herb, echinacea has more uses than first believed.

Echinacea is taking the health world by storm. Health experts are singing its praises as a healer and a profound booster of the immune system.

Three decades of European research have proved that echinacea has significant anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-cancer properties.

Known as the "purple cone-flower," the daisy-like perennial has been used as a folk remedy throughout history. According to herbalist Steven Foster, approximately nine species of the plant are available, all native to North America. The varieties preferred by herbalists who use botanical medicines for healing are E. augustifolia and E. Purpurea, but other varieties may be equally as effective.

In the early 17th century, echinacea was the chief medicinal herb of the Plains Indians, used to treat a host of respiratory ailments, as well as snakebites, wounds and smallpox. In 1870, Nebraska physician Dr. H.C.F. Meyer patented a medicine containing the herb called Meyer's Blood Purifier, and used it extensively to treat chronic nasal congestion, cholera, leg ulcers and bee stings.

After 15 years he sent a sample of the plant to John King at Cincinnati's Eclectic Medical Institute, at the time one the of the country's leading centers of botanical research. After using the herb successfully to treat a number of ailments, King recommended echinacea in the 1898 edition of King's American Dispensatory.

In 1890, John Uri Lloyd, profesor at the Eclectic Medical Institute and co-founder of Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists of Cincinnati, developed a number of echinacea-based medicines which became popular as infection fighters until the early 1900s. After the advent of antibiotics in the early 1930s, the powerful herb was virtually forgotten until 1970 when it enjoyed a revival among Europeans.

Today, researchers are studying the herb in laboratories world-wide. University of Munich pharmaceutical biologist Rudolf Bauer is conducting a major study of its immune stimulating qualities. Researchers have discovered that these qualities may be due to the echinacean polysaccharide molecules which appear to boost production of T-cells by 20 to 30 percent more than a potent chemical typically used as an immune stimulator in laboratory settings. The T-cells are the front line sentries of the immune system. They manufacture chemicals that kill bacteria and viruses.

The anti-bacterial effect of the herb may result from its ability to strengthen the hyaluronic acid in cell membranes, which acts as a shield against foreign bacteria and viruses. Pathogens often enter the body by producing an enzyme, hyaluronidase, which lowers the viscosity of hyaluronic acid and facilitates the spread of infection. Researchers have found that echinacea contains a chemical, echinacein, which actually inhibits the hyaluronidase enzyme and thus helps preserve the cell's membrane.

According to David Hoffman, author of The Herbal Handbook, echinacea also contains a volatile oil that is anti-staphylococcal, as well as an amide (of echinacein) that is insecticidal.

According to a study reported in Infection and Immunology the herb also boosts the action of white blood cells. When cells are invaded by foreign bacteria or viruses, they secrete chemicals that attract amoeba-like white blood cells called macrophages into the area to engulf invaders. Researchers found that echinacea actually enhances the macrophages' ability to destroy invading organisms.

In a similar study reported in Planta Medica, researchers found that echinacea aids in fighting infection in much the same way as interferon, a chemical produced by the body. Interferon is secreted by virus-infected cells to help surrounding cells resist similar invasion. According to researchers, echinacea seems to secrete a similar infection-fighting chemical. In one study, cells bathed in echinacea were exposed to influenza viruses and herpes. The result was an infection rate 50 to 80 percent below that of untreated virus-infected cells.

In another study conducted in Germany, researchers treated 203 women, with recurrent candidiasis (yeast infections) with echinacea by injection or orally. After months of treatment, 60 percent of the women treated with anti-fungal creme experienced recurrences, while only 16 percent of those treated with echinacea had repeat yeast infections.

Researchers then conducted a study to determine if the herb had directly counteracted the Candida albicans virus, or if the positive results were an indication of echinacea's general immune-boosting powers. Using simple allergy skin test procedures, researchers checked the echinacea group's reactions to the bacteria responsible for causing tetanus, diphtheria and tuberculosis. The echinacea-treated group produced larger skin welts, indicating a greater immune-system response to the pathogens. Researchers concluded that the effectiveness of the herb against candidiasis was due to the systemic immune-enhancing effect of echinacea.