Efficacy and Tolerance of Thymus Vulgaris Extract in Patients with Covid-19

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) has been a pandemic since February 2020. So far, no effective treatment has been found. WHO has recommended research on medicinal plants as an alternative treatment course. Several studies conducted on Thymus vulgaris have established its antioxidant, antiviral and immunomodulatory properties that induce the elimination of viruses such as Herpes simplex Virus 1 and 2. Following this, we initiated a study entitled Efficacy and tolerance of Thymus vulgaris extract in patients with coronavirus 2019. Material and method: Thymus vulgaris powder was used in this study. A consent letter and a questionnaire about the patients’ symptoms were prepared to be used by a research investigator. According to the statistical calculations of this cohort study, 161 patients testing positive for COVID-19 PCR were consecutively recruited, of which 75 patients were not exposed to Thymus vulgaris and 86 patients were exposed. Information from the questionnaire was gathered from the patients before the initiation of conventional treatment (vitamin C 1000 1 tablet/day, Zinc 20 mg 1tablet/day, Azithromycin 500 1cp day and amoxicillin/clavulamic acid 1g/125 1 tablet per 12 hours for six days in both cohorts) and by combining Thymus vulgaris (1 teaspoon, i.e. 5g, in 100 ml of hot water to be taken every 8 hours) by the patients in the exposed cohort. After three days of this treatment, the evaluative part of the questionnaire was completed to assess the impact of taking or not taking Thymus vulgaris on early symptoms and tolerance; on the 10th day after the start of treatment, the PCR control test was carried out. Thereafter, the various statistical analyses were performed. Results: Statistical evaluation after three days of treatment shows that taking Thymus vulgaris has a statistically significant positive effect on cough (p <0.01), dyspnoea (p <0.001), dizziness (p <0.029), fatigue (p <0.001), anorexia (p <0.001), chest pain (p <0.001), fever (p <0.024), agueusia (p <0.029) and anosmia (p <0.001). There was a significant decrease in neutrophils (p <0.01); in addition, the lymphocyte count increased significantly (p <0.001) as did the serum calcium level (p <0.03). Blood urea level decreased significantly (p <0.01). Significant negative results of the COVID-19 PCR were obtained at Day 10 in the exposed group (p <0.001). In addition, there was no significant change in other biological parameters such as creatinine, blood glucose, aspartate amino transferase. Conclusion: Results of this study show that the use of the powder of Thymus vulgaris, a medicinal plant, with antioxidant, immunomodulatory and antiviral properties, was very effective on coronavirus-induced symptoms and virus elimination. Moreover, there was good tolerance after taking Thymus vulgaris.