A Clinical Trial of Cranberry and Elderberry Extracts (Berdi® Sachet) for Urinary Tract Infection in Pakistani Population

Abstract

Lower urinary tract infection (UTI) is very common diseases. Recurrent UTI remain challenging to treat because the main treatment option is long-term antibiotic and this poses a risk for the emergence of bacterial resistance. Some options to avoid this risk are available, including the use of cranberry and elderberry products (herbal products extract). However, this can lead to the advent of bacterial resistance. The cross sectional study was designed to evaluated the efficacy of above products.  The study was conducted from 23 October 2019 to 28 October 2019 in Arif Memorial Teaching Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. The subjects were outpatients aged 20 to 65 years. UTI symptoms were recorded in the daily diary before, during and after treatment and assessed by the Jackson score. Following approval by the Ethics Committee of Rashid Latif Pharmacy College, the questionnaire (ROUTE2-002) was compiled and information of UTI patients using cranberry and elderberry extracts (Berdi® Sachet) was collected. Compliance and tolerability were considerable obstacles in this study. A total of 67 patients were screened for participation; 12 were unwilling to participate and 55 were enrolled for clinical trial and all patients had urinary tract irritation. In this study 55 (100%) UTI patients were cured with cranberry and elderberry extracts (Berdi® Sachet). Further investigation is needed to confirm this effect and to evaluate the health benefits of cranberries and elderberry.