Efficacy of Pelargonium sidoides extract in treatment of acute bronchiolitis in infants

Introduction: Acute bronchiolitis is the leading cause of hospitalization during winter in children younger than two years of age. It results in significant morbidity and mortality for infants. EPs, an herbal preparation from the roots of Pelargonium sidoides, have been approved for the treatment of ARTIs in several countries. Aim of the study: The study aims to evaluate the efficacy of P. sidoides extract in relieving the symptoms of acute bronchiolitis in infants. Subjects and Methods: We conducted a randomized control study upon 100 patients that were admitted with acute bronchiolitis in pediatric departments at Fayoum University and health insurance hospitals, in Fayoum from December 2017 to march 2018. The 100 patients had been divided into 2 groups. Group 1 Consists of 50 infants who received the ordinary supportive care in the treatment of bronchiolitis, while group 2 received pelargonium sidoides extracts for 7 days in addition to the supportive measures. The follow up was done according to Wang score on admission and after 2, 4 , 6 days; the cases were classified into mild, moderate, and sever according to the score. Results: we found that there was a statistically significant difference with p-value <0.05 between two study group as regards Wang score follow up after 2, 4, and 6 days of treatment with low mean among group II, which indicated better response and improvement among group II. Conclusions: treatment of infants admitted for bronchiolitis with P. sidoides extract help in good prognosis, faster improvement.