Bangkok Balm

The leaves of Clinacanthus nutans Lindau have long been traditionally used in Thailand as an anti-inflammatory drug for the treatment of insect bites, herpes infection and allergic responses. Lindau is an often cultivated small shrub, native to tropi- cal Asia. nutans has long been used in Thailand by traditional doctors to treat skin rashes, insect and snake bite as well as herpes simplex virus (HSV), and varicella-zoster virus (VZV) lesions. Extracts from the leaves were reported to possess analgesic and anti- inflammatory activities (Satayavivad, et al., 1996), antiviral activities against varicella-zoster virus (Thawaranantha, et al., 1992) and herpes
simplex virus type-2 (Jayavasu, et al., 1992a). Clinical trials in patients with ge***al herpes are also reported (Jayavasu, et al., 1992b) and (Sangkitjaporn, et al., 1995). Clinical trials have shown the successful use of a C. nutans prepa- ration (cream or lotion) for the relief of minor skin inflammation, insect bites, treatment of ge***al herpes and varicella-zoster lesions in patients (Charuwichitratana, et al., 1996)