Bee Propolis for Thrush, Fungus, or Leukoplakia?

by John S. James Published in San Francisco Sentinel, July 31; also published as AIDS Treatment News, same date.

Last week we first heard word of mouth reports that propolis, sold in health-food stores, may be helpful in treating thrush, fungal infections, and even hairy leukoplakia. We interviewed two persons with ARC who have used it; both are known personally to this writer. We have not heard of any others with HIV who have used propolis. But the results for these two were dramatic enough to suggest that this treatment might be useful for others.

Background on Propolis

Propolis, a waxy, resinous substance gathered by bees from buds of trees and used as a cement in the hive, has been scientifically studied as an antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral treatment in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China. But U.S. medicine has ignored propolis so completely that the word does not even appear in any of the three major medical dictionaries in common use. Health-food stores have long carried propolis, both in its raw form and in tinctures and capsules.

The published work on propolis, mostly from Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, consists of highly technical laboratory studies, along with largely anecdotal clinical reports, usually of treatment for infections. Apparently there has not been a major effort to prove the effectiveness of propolis with controlled clinical trials, as is done with new drug products from Western pharmaceutical companies. Such trials would be expensive, and it is hard to see a motive for them in countries where physicians and lay persons alike already use the treatment as part of traditional practice. Nor would a U.S. pharmaceutical company be likely to spend the millions of dollars required to gain marketing approval under our system of medicine, for a product already cheaply available through the health-products industry. So propolis simply dropped out of the U.S. medical system. Only the patients might have cared, and they have had no voice for systematic research or advocacy on such matters.

Some of the more interesting clinical studies of propolis are a Soviet report on its use with 460 patients with infections (Tsarev and others, 1985), and a Romanian paper on promising herpes treatments (Esanu, 1981), which mentioned propolis, garlic, and marine algae as promising antivirals. Other reports concerned propolis for treatment of various conditions, including 45 cases of oral leukoplakia, probably not AIDS related, in China (Pang and Chen, 1985).

For information on propolis use in the U.S. we asked a well-known herbalist, Ed Smith. He sells propolis (among other products), and described it as a very strong antifungal. He said that quality varies, as there are no marketing standards, although most of the products are good or excellent. Propolis also varies depending on the area from which it comes, because the bees gather resin from whatever kinds of trees are available.

Smith sells only a little propolis -- several gallons a year -- and is more interested in another product for thrush, a mixture of herbs which his company has formulated. (The herbs are spilanthes, usnea (old man's beard), oregano, and pau dearco.)

Smith prefers either raw propolis, or the tincture. The tincture can be applied better for uses such as nailbed fungal infections. No one we talked to recommended propolis in capsules.

Safety

Propolis is not totally harmless; some people become allergic to it and develop skin rashes where it is applied. A number of articles mention this "contact dermatitis" from propolis, but most report just a handful of cases (Trevisan and Kokelj, 1987; Young, 1987)

One paper reported 22 cases (Rudzki and Grzywa, 1983), but 18 of them had dermatitis before exposure to propolis. Of the other four, whose dermatitis was primarily evoked by propolis, only two remembered the details of their exposure, and these suggested excessive use -- such as applying 40 percent propolis in lanolin for ten days, or drinking propolis extract for fourteen days and rubbing it into one's fingers for the last four of those days, at which time the rash appeared.

The two persons with ARC interviewed by the writer used propolis only as necessary, and they had no problems.

Use By Persons With ARC

This writer hears many reports of proposed treatments for HIV-related conditions, and usually waits for more evidence than just two cases before writing a report. Here it seemed appropriate to go ahead because:

* I personally know both the persons with ARC reported below who used propolis. Neither has any commercial or other ulterior motive to promote this or any other treatment. They spoke only because they believe their experience may be valuable to others.

* Medical research in Eastern Europe and Asia, as well a folk medicine in many parts of the world, support use of propolis for fungal and other infections.

* It is reasonable to suspect that propolis may contain one or more natural antibiotics, as it is not destroyed by fungus or other microorganisms in the hive. Many plants produce anti microbial substances for protection; and many antibiotics used in Western medicine come from these sources, such as penicillin from mold.

* Propolis is readily available, inexpensive, relatively safe, and quickly and easily tested to see whether it is working for someone. The harm which would be caused by raising a false alarm if it turns out that propolis doesn't work is much less than the cost of being wrong the other way.

* The results reported below were decisive enough that it seems unlikely they were coincidental.

Jim

Jim first brought propolis to my attention. He had been treating thrush for a month with Mycelex. This medicine worked at first, but the thrush became more aggressive until even Mycelex five times a day did not stop it. And even when the treatment was working, the thrush would come back the next day if it was stopped.

Jim used propolis only three times, and in one day the thrush was gone. Then he stopped the treatment to see how long it would take for the thrush to return. It has not come back in the week and a half which has elapsed until the time of this writing.

One complication in this case, however, is that Jim started using AZT one week before using the propolis. It is possible that AZT and not propolis was responsible for the result. That possibility seems unlikely, however, as AZT usually takes longer than a week to show any benefit. Here the improvement happened very quickly and dramatically, coinciding exactly with use of propolis. Jim is convinced that the AZT had nothing to do with it.

Jim used raw propolis, only a small amount and only when necessary. Twice a day he used a cube about a quarter inch on each side, and chewed it for half an hour. As reported above, only three uses were necessary. The expense was minimal, a few dollars for a small bottle which could last for weeks or months.

Bob

Bob has reason to believe that he had hairy leukoplakia four years ago, but the disease had not been recognized at that time, and the spot on his tongue was diagnosed as thrush. But it did not respond to nystatin or other thrush medicines, even for several months, so Bob consulted a nutritionist, Denise Buzbuzian of Au Naturel health-products store in San Francisco, who suggested trying propolis. He used it for three days in the raw form, and the problem disappeared and did not recur for almost four years.

Then a few months ago, Bob had a severe case of poison oak which was treated with prednisone, a drug which can suppress the immune response. The spot on the tongue reappeared in the same place. This time it was biopsied and diagnosed as both hairy leukoplakia and thrush. The biopsy removed the entire spot, but two weeks later it returned, and Bob used propolis again. After three days the spot was gone, so Bob stopped the propolis. The hairy leukoplakia has not returned in the three months since, even without further propolis treatment.

Bob's physician explained that it was very important that the leukoplakia was gone, because when it was present Epstein-Barr virus was active. Scientists now believe that viruses such as Epstein-Barr and herpes stimulate the growth of the AIDS virus by increasing activation of the immune system. They may be important cofactors in the development of AIDS. If propolis stops the hairy leukoplakia, it may prevent this activation and help prevent progression to AIDS.

Bob's T-helper cells went from 490 four years ago to 860 recently. During this time he used ten to 15 grams of vitamin C orally per day, and also selenium, acidophilus, zinc, l- lysine, vitamin E, and multi-vitamins, in addition to using propolis only as needed. He stressed that people with hairy leukoplakia should not despair, as there are things they can do to help prevent the development of AIDS -- including at least one experimental medical treatment for the leukoplakia.

Bob urges people to network back to the community with any information about successful or unsuccessful treatments. If something does or does not work for you, let others know.

Incidentally, Bob told Jim about propolis. Bob does not know anyone else who is using it at this time for any AIDS-related condition.

Let Us Know

1If you have any experience with propolis for an HIV-related condition, please contact us so we can publish follow-ups on this article. Call John S. James at (415) 282-0110, or write to P.O. Box 411256, San Francisco, CA 94141.

Acknowledgements We wish to thank Jim and Bob, and Ed Smith of Herb-Pharm, for helping us with this article. Also thanks to herbalist Paul Lee of Santa Cruz, who referred us to Mr. Smith.

References V Esanu. Recent Advances in the Chemotherapy of HerpesVirus Infections. Virologie, volume 32 number 1, pages 57-77, January-March 1981. In English, although published in Rumania.

JF Pang and SS Chen. Treatment Of Oral Leukoplakia With Propolis: Report of 45 Cases. Chung Hsi I Chieh Ho Tsa Chih, volume 5 number 8, pages 485-486 and 452-453, August 1985.

E Rudzki and Z Grzywa. Dermatitis From Propolis. Contact Dermatitis, volume 9, pages 40-45, January 1983.

G Trevisan and F Kokelj. Contact Dermatitis from Propolis: role of Gastrointestinal Absorption. Contact Dermatitis, volume 16 number 1, page 48, January 1987.

NI Tsarev, EV Petrik, and VI Aleksandrova. Use of propolis in the treatment of local suppurative infection. Vestn Khir, volume 134 number 5, pages 119-122, May 1985.

E Young. Sensitivity to Propolis. Contact Dermatitis, volume 16 number 1, pages 49-50, January 1987.

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