An open labeled study to evaluate safety and efficacy of Unicough syrup in children with acute bronchitis.
Acute bronchitis is inflammation of the main air passage to the lungs generally follows a viral respiratory infection. Children generally suffer from acute bronchitis at any stage. Fumes, dusts, decreased immunity, indigestion, viral infections are some causes due to which air passage get inflamed and irritated. Acute bronchitis is a clinical syndrome produced by inflammation of the trachea, bronchi, and bronchioles. In children, acute bronchitis usually occurs in association with viral respiratory tract infection. Acute bronchitis is rarely a primary bacterial infection in otherwise healthy children. In modern therapies using excessive expectorant, antihistaminics, and cough suppressants causes certain side effects and has no roll in rejuvenating the respiratory system. Unicough is a herbal remedy with the herbs which acts as a mucolytic and mild expectorant by its smoothening effect which helps in easy evacuation of cough and rejuvenate the respiratory passages. Current open labeled study on forty four children of acute bronchitis showed significant improvement after first and second week of the treatment in all associated symptoms which proves that Unicough syrup is a safe and effective remedy for acute bronchitis. 3 Antibiotics are commonly prescribed, this type of therapy remains controversial, particularly since only half of all exacerbations are bacterial in origin, the rest being viral or chemical. Thus some believe that antibiotic therapy of acute exacerbation of bronchitis is an abuse of antibiotics, and can contribute to antimicrobial resistance 4 The natural approach to treating bronchitis avoids creating new disease problems. It involves two goals: stimulating the normal processes that expel mucus, and stimulating the immune system to deal with viral infection. Expectorant herbs increase the fluidity and volume of phlegm, and stimulate cough. They are not cough suppressants, since cough suppression traps phlegm in the bronchi and lungs 5 Unicough is a herbal remedy with Khaira Chhal (Acacia catechu),Vasakapatra (Adhatoda vasika) Vach (Acorus calamus) Elaichi (Elettaria cardamomum) Nagkeshar (Mesua ferrea) Talispatra (Abies webbina) Tulsi (Ocimum scantum) Dalchini (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) Sounth (Zingiber officinale) Pippali (Piper longum) Kababchini (Piper cubeba) Mulethi (Glycyrrhiza glabra) Somlata (Ephedra gerardiana) Dhatura panchang (Datura metel) Ajowan sat (Thymol) Pudina sat (Menthol) All these ingredients act as a smoothening, expectorant, bronchodilator and also improve the metabolism. This was an open labeled, non comparative study in the patients of acute bronchitis for the period of 15 days.