Echinacea for Children’s Tonsillitis

Tonsillitis is an infection of the tonsils caused either by viruses or bacteria, and often characterised by a sore throat, raised temperature, coughing, earache and fatigue. It particularly affects children, even into the teenage years. While viruses are the most common cause in very young children, bacterial infection is more common in older children. Having a remedy with both anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties would be ideal, and these attributes are both found in Echinacea. In fact, the term Echinacea refers to a number of different species each having similar medicinal properties, but it is E. purpurea which is the most commonly-used species for medicinal purposes, as it is easy to cultivate and it is the one I am talking about here.

Following on my previous article which showed that children with colds who took daily doses of Echinacea greatly reduced their antibiotic use, another study in children with recurrent tonsillitis, shows that taking Echinacea with an antibiotic significantly enhanced the prophylactic effect of the antibiotic. In this study, 300 children were randomised to take daily, either no treatment, an antibiotic with Echinacea or an antibiotic without Echinacea for 10 consecutive days every month for 6 months. As expected, the children taking the antibiotics had fewer attacks of tonsillitis. However, the group taking the antibiotic with Echinacea had significantly fewer attacks of tonsillitis and less severe symptoms when they did get the problem, than children taking the antibiotic on its own.

This is an example of integrative medicine – of herbal medicine augmenting and enhancing modern medicine. We hear a lot in the media about potential interactions between herbs and modern medicine. In fact, the number of proven cases of herb-drug interactions in human subjects is very small – despite a lot of unfounded speculation. Most herbs can be taken alongside modern drugs and an encouraging number of clinical studies are reporting good positive results that support that argument.

Ann Walker PhD FCPP MNIMH RNutr, Herbal Practitioner and Nutritionist,
Course Director, Discovering Herbal Medicine course