Ulcer Plants: Highly Accessible Plant Antiseptics for Use in Remote Areas of PNG - Second Trial

Small, infected skin ulcers are very common in children living in rural areas of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and represent a large area of unmet clinical need. These painful and debilitating ulcers often occur on the lower leg area and are suspected to be associated with a range of different bacterial pathogens including Haemophilus ducreyi and Streptococcus pyogenes. Topical antiseptics such as chlorhexidine-based antiseptic creams or antibiotics such as amoxicillin may be effective treatment options, but in rural areas of PNG, infected skin ulcers are normally left untreated due to a lack of access to such treatments. The need to walk many miles to reach an aid post, often barefoot and through swampy or muddy ground, compromises the real-world effectiveness of such treatments in PNG. In this study the investigators propose to test the effectiveness of three antibacterial traditional plant medicines, each of which has a long history of use in PNG as a plant-based topical antiseptic that is applied directly onto infected skin ulcers. The plant medicine Pterocarpus indicus is an antibacterial plant sap which as a viscous fluid can be easily applied directly onto the surface of infected ulcers. Unlike antibiotics such as amoxicillin which demand access to an aid post or clinic, this plant medicine can be easily found growing in or very near to most villages in PNG. Highly accessible, medicinal plant saps could form the basis of a cost-effective treatment option for PNG in remote areas, and may reduce the use of antibiotics. The trial proposed in this application aims to discover if such plant medicines are indeed efficacious when compared to Savlon cream or no treatment.