Some men who have contracted Lyme Disease know all too well that antibiotics, such as doxycycline, don’t always clear up the infection permanently. In fact, MedicalNewsToday.com reports that as many as 20% of people who get the tick-borne illness continue to report symptoms for months—or even years—after undergoing treatment.
That may be because B. burgdorferi can become dormant, hiding for a while until the cells begin to multiply.
But there is some good news. New research from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has found that certain essential oils may be able to kill Lyme Disease.
The essential oils that were most effective
The researchers tested 35 essential oils for their antibacterial properties and found that 10 performed very well at killing the most persistent forms of the disease.
The oils that seemed to work best came from myrrh trees, allspice berries, cumin seeds, eucalyptus, garlic cloves, thyme leaves and cinnamon bark, among others.
Of these 10, five oils were particularly effective against the dormant forms of Lyme disease in small concentrations: only 1 part per1,000. These five essential oils came from myrrh trees, allspice berries, garlic bulbs, may chang trees and spiked ginger lily. The five “completely eradicated” all the bacteria within seven days and no regrowth occurred in 21days.
Also highly effective in fighting the dormant phase of the bacteria were cumin seeds, cinnamon bark oil, Amyris wood and thyme leaves.
Future testing on humans
Although these tests weren’t done in humans, that may come soon.
“Future studies are needed to determine if these highly active essential oils could eradicate persistent B. burdorferi infection in vivo,” explained lead author Dr. Ying Zhang. “At this stage, essential oils look very promising as candidate treatments for persistent Lyme infection, but ultimately we need properly designed clinical trials.”
