Bee venom

[Fred]

I brought it up because I'd seen a study done, I don't go looking for herbal or Chinese medicines.

I can send you the link to the study if you like Fred?

I don't think it's quite as ridiculous as it sounds, also I don't always believe the adage that if it worked we'd have it already, in this day and age drugs companies do everything they can to block 'natural' cures because they can't patent them.

I've just got your PM and replied.

Here are the basics from the PDF

Quote:

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Accepted 14 January, 2013.

The objective of this study is to evaluate bee venom and propolis, as a new therapeutic modality for localized plaque psoriasis. Forty eight patients were randomized into four treatment groups: Group I received intradermal bee venom twice weekly; Group II received topical propolis ointment in vaseline base; Group III received oral propolis capsules 1 g/day; and group IV received intradermal bee venom, oral and topical propolis. Response to treatment was assessed by calculating Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score and measuring serum interleukin-1β (IL-1β) before and after 3 months of treatment. A significant reduction in both PASI score and serum level of IL-1β was observed in all groups. Changes in PASI score and IL-1β were significantly higher in Groups I and IV compared to Groups II and III. All treatments were tolerable with minimal adverse effects. In conclusion, intradermal bee venom and oral propolis are safe and effective treatments of localized plaque psoriasis with minimal tolerable side effects. Intradermal bee venom has superior results than oral or topical propolis when used alone or in combination with propolis.

The study included 48 patients with localized plaque psoriasis. They included 26 males and 22 females. Their ages ranged from 8 to 60 years with a mean of 35.91 ± 11.89 years. The duration of psoriatic lesions ranged from 4 months to 7 years with a mean of 2.34 ± 0.56 years. Patients with systemic diseases, such as diabetes and cardiac diseases were excluded from the study. Pregnant and lactating females were also excluded.

All groups of patients showed reduction the mean PASI score after the end of treatment. In Group I, the mean PASI score of the patients was 6.67 ± 0.83 before treatment and was reduced after treatment to a mean of 3.17 ± 0.41. The reduction was statistically highly significant (P < 0. 01), (Figures 1, 3a and b).

During the study, 2 patients in Group III discontinued treatment and one patient in Group II showed worsening of the psoriatic lesions with increase in PASI score. Moreover, 2 patients including one patient in Group II and the other patient in Group III showed no clinical evidence of improvement with any change in their PASI score after completion of the course of treatment. During the course of therapy, 4 patients in Group I and 2 patients in Group IV experienced generalized itching; however, it was not so significant to necessitate discontinuation of therapy. Itching was completely resolved spontaneously within few weeks. There were no systemic side effects of treatment in all patients as detected by routine investigations and follow up.

From the study, we conclude that intradermal bee venom and oral propolis could be a potential new therapeutic agent in treatment of chronic localized plaque psoriasis, with minimal tolerable side effects. Intradermal bee venom has superior results than oral or topical propolis when used alone or in combination with propolis. Interleukin-1β could be considered as an indicator in treatment of psoriasis with intradermal bee venom. Larger randomized controlled complementary studies are needed to explore their efficacy. This work is a potential starting point for larger studies with wider scales of applications to confirm our findings.

Source: netjournals.org


Funding: National Research Center, Egypt
Tanta University, Egypt.