Clinical study on the efficacy of orally administered crushed fresh garlic in controlling Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in burn patients with varying burn degrees

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of orally administered crushed fresh garlic cloves in the control of Pseudomonas aeruginosa burn wound infection among patients with different burn sizes. A total of 140 burn patients, divided into three groups according to their burns sizes: >70%, <70>45% and <45>20% of total body surface area (TBSA) were serially and randomly allocated into two equal number of control and treatment subgroups and matched for age, sex, area and cause of burn. Treatment group received two crushed garlic cloves mixed with yogurt with their daily lunch meal, while control group received plain yogurt only. The time P. aeruginosa of development of burn wound infection was considered as end-point for study among the selected groups. The results showed that the number of patients who developed P. aeruginosa burn wound infection was significantly reduced among the garlic-treated group with <45% but >20% of TBSA in the first week of hospitalization. No significant differences in other groups of patients were recorded. It seems that fresh crushed garlic cloves can be used as a supplementary herbal medicinal agent in delaying of P. aeruginosa burn wound infection in patients with moderate burn injuries.