The potential role of thyme in the treatment of pyodermia in newborn infants--a retrospective analysis.

Searches in the databases of Cochrane, EMBASE, NCCAM, NLM, DIMDI, CAMbase, and Medline and in the archives of Karger, Kluwer, Thieme, Springer, and the Merkurstab reveal only few specific data on skin infections in the neonatal period [1–3]. Knowledge about the treatment of these skin infections partly derives from the treatment of contagious impetigo of the older child [4–6]. The national and international research literature [7, 8] offers either only vague [9] or no recommendations at all [10]. A specific guideline for newborns does not exist [11]. On the other hand, there are numerous publications on the antimicrobial effect of thyme (Thymus vulgaris) [5, 12, 13], some of them representing popular medical opinions, others a long tradition of empirical use [14]. The disinfectant effect of thyme is supposed to be caused by essential oils, particularly thymol, carvacrol, and tannic acids. Based on traditional experience and the existing scientific literature, thyme has been used for many years as a concentrated tea for the treatment of superficial skin infections in the department of pediatrics, Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Herdecke, [15, 16], usually supplementarily to systemic antibiotic therapy. The aim of this article is the systematic presentation of our therapeutic procedures for pyodermia in newborns. The focus lies on the documentation of desired and undesired effects as well as complications during the course of therapy. Methods