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Background and purpose: Common cold is the most prevalent viral infection in children that is associated with high health care expenditure every year. Echinacea is commonly used to prevent viral respiratory infections. The goal of this study was to assess Echinacea effect in improving the symptoms of acute upper respiratory tract infection (URI) in children. Materials and methods: This clinical trial was performed in 100 children aged 5 to 11 years with URI referring to Pediatric Hospital in Bandar-abbas, 2009. A complete history and physical examination were conducted. Patients were randomly assigned into two groups to receive either Echinacea or placebo. Echinacea group received 5 ml Echinacea (root extract) per 12 hours during 10 days while the control group was given only analgesics and saline. The patients were followed for 10 days to identify the reduction in duration and severity of symptoms and side effects. This was done by parents or physical examination. The data was analyzed by SPSS ver. 16 using descriptive, Chi-square test and t-test. Results: The mean age of the studied patients was 7.56 ± 1.78 years. No significant differences were found between Echinacea and control group regarding the mean duration of fever, cough, rhinorrhea and nasal congestion. Also, no adverse reactions were seen among the two groups. Conclusion: The results of our study showed that Echinacea extract was not effective in decreasing the duration of symptoms of common cold. But, further well-designed randomized trials should be undertaken to elucidate the effects of Echinacea on treatment of common cold.

Keywords: Echinacea, common cold, upper respiratory infection

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