Sam Coffman



West Nile Virus, Herbs and Holistic Medicine


There was a death recently in San Antonio from the West Nile Virus, which has prompted a lot of attention to prevention and care for anyone who might get infected with what they think is this disease. Although I have a podcast out that is specifically about this same subject (herbal prevention and care for West Nile Virus), I thought it appropriate to post a blog on the subject as well.


Life Cycle of a Mosquito from Egg to Adult

The normal life cycle of a mosquito from egg to adult

First a note about prevention: The most crucial time to prevent mosquitoes in general is before they hatch from larva or pupa to adult. The best way to achieve this result is to have an area that is easy breeding ground but is really used as a breeding trap. Mosquitoes can breed in the tiniest amounts of water, but they won’t necessarily do that if there are easily available and larger amounts of water. If you have a pond, consider fish that eat mosquito larvae such as mosquitofish, or small koi or goldfish. If you have areas that hold water (old tires, barrels, etc.) then consider treatment that is ecologically safe for wildlife, such as Bacillus thuringiensis (BT). Or just check the water every day until you see larvae swimming around, then dump and refill. It is far easier to deal with mosquitoes by preventing them hatching into adults than it is to deal with them once they are adults.

Assuming you are past the most crucial point of mosquito prevention in your living or working area and now have to deal with adult mosquitoes swarming and biting you, the next step is of course to keep them off your skin using repellant. There are dozens of repellents on the market, but if you want to use a natural one that is much less toxic to your own system, I would recommend lemon eucalyptus oil. This oil has been shown to be at least as effective as DEET in preventing mosquitoes from landing and biting, and I use it very effectively all the time in the most mosquito-infected parts of my own yard and property.

Herbs to help people with west nile virus

Once the mosquito is an adult, efforts should focus on repellants and herbal immune-system strengthening

A few herbs that also repel mosquitoes are: Lantana (Lantana spp.), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Citronella Grass (Cymbopogon nardus) and American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana). However, just grabbing these herbs, wetting your skin and rubbing them on has a very limited efficacy. Some of them work better than others, as well. Lantana and American Beautyberry are the 2 most effective in my opinion, but they need to be put into an oil that won’t sweat or wipe off of your skin easily, and spreads more evenly. Add to that, Lantana is most effective when it is made into a solution using a polar solvent like water. It doesn’t do very well with a non-polar solvent like oil. So the idea of just grabbing an herb and rubbing it on your skin to be an effective insect repellent is really only good as a last resort when nothing else is available and you need immediate help. Overall, I’d stick with lemon eucalyptus oil as a highly effective, natural means of mosquito repellent.

Now to the main theme of this blog: What herbal care is possible if you’ve been bitten by mosquitoes and feel you’ve contracted West Nile Virus? Are there herbs that can help? In short, yes there are in the same respect that there are herbs which can palliate (make you feel better) nearly any illness. Additionally, there are herbs that can help your own immune system fight a viral attack. There are even herbs that are specifically anti-viral against specific viruses.

First of all, prevention is the key. Statistically, only 20% of people who have contracted the West Nile Virus actually show signs or symptoms (i.e. become sick). Less than 1% become dangerously ill (encephalitis). So the most likely scenario, if you have a robust, healthy immune system, is that you won’t even know you’ve got the virus in your body. It therefore seems that one of the first and most important ways to deal with West Nile is to strengthen your own immune system. This is best done all the time, but can even be done once you feel ill. Remember that it’s not just a matter of taking an herb as though it’s a pharmaceutical and ignoring all the other aspects of your health. Nutritious food, cutting back on sugar, getting enough sleep and exercise, staying hydrated and focusing on ways to deal with stress are all very easy ways to maintain immune health.

Lantana as a mosquito repellant

Lantana can be an effective mosquito repellant, but is difficult to keep on the skin.

In addition to this, stimulating the lymph and immune system is an excellent way to help your body throw off illness. Lymph is driven by muscle movement (i.e. full-body exercise like swimming, stretching, deep diaphragmatic breathing, etc.), gentle lymph massage and herbs.
Some of the best lymph-stimulating herbs are: Poke root (Phytolacca americana), Blue Flag (Iris veriscolor) and Red Root (Ceanothus spp.). These are short-term herbs that are very powerful and should be taken in small amounts, carefully and for short stretches of time (a few days to a few weeks max). Additionally, more gentle lymph movers like Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) and Cleavers (Gallium aparine) are also effective for long-term lymph stimulation and can be taken for longer stretches (up to a few months).

Along with lymph movers, I like to support the liver and also flush the toxins out of the body at the same time. The lymph basically handles toxins and pathogens that are eventually broken down and eliminated via the blood, kidneys and urinary tract. We can help this process along with both liver support herbs like Burdock root (Arctium lappa) as well “flushing” herbs (tonifying diuretics) like Dandelion root (Taraxacum officinale).

We can stimulate white blood cell creation and activity (immune stimulation) using herbs like Echinacea (Echinacea spp.) and Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum). These herbs are short-term (a few days to a few weeks max). More gentle immune tonics can also be used for longer periods (several months at a time) like Astragalus root (Astragalus membranaceous) and Reishi or Shiitake mushrooms.

We can palliate the symptoms (i.e. help our body feel better when we have the flu) using herbs like Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Elderberry flower (Sambucus nigra) and Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum). Heating herbs like Ginger (Zingiber officinale), Prickly Ash (Zanthoxylum spp.) and Wild Rosemary (Rosmarinus Officinalis) are excellent anti-viral diaphoretics (help your body open pores and sweat out illness) that assist in your body not only feeling better from muscle aches and fever, but also help your immune system combat the viral attack.

To summarize, here is a listing that organizes what it is we’re trying to do to help our body heal faster and feel better when affected by a virus such as the West Nile Virus. As is the case with herbal medicine, we’re not using the herbs to fight the pathogen directly so much as using the herbs to help our body back into a balance which enables it to successfully overcome a disease state.

Strong Lymph Stimulation (Short Term, a few days to a few weeks max)

  • Poke Root
  • Blue Flag
  • Red Root

Gentle Lymph Stimulation (Long Term, a few weeks to a few months)

  • Red Clover
  • Cleavers

Liver, Kidney Support and Flushing (a few days to a few weeks)

  • Burdock Root
  • Dandelion Root

Strong Immune Stimulation (a few days to a few weeks)

  • Echinacea
  • Boneset

Gentle Immune Stimulation and Tonics (weeks to months)

  • Astragalus
  • Reishi
  • Shiitake

Palliative Care, Anti-virals and Diaphoretic/Diuretics (help your body feel better, excrete the sickness, ease muscle aches and pains)

  • Ginger root
  • Elderberry flower
  • Yarrow
  • Boneset
  • Wild Rosemary

For more information on herbs and herbal medicine, check out my basic herbology course (The Herbal Medic 1: Fundamentals) where you can gain practical herbal knowledge to use first hand for yourself or family at home. In the level 1 course we learn approximately 80 herbs, as well as how to prepare and use them. We learn how to go about designing and creating formulas in a structured approach. We make very effective tinctures, salves, cough syrups, poultices, liniments, and much more that students take home. We learn to identify, ethically wildcraft and use the medicinal plants that grow in our own back yard as well as understand some basic forest gardening techniques. This level 1 course is offered as a 4-weekend intensive (over the course of 2 to 3 months), as an evening class (2 evenings per week) and as an online class. More course information can be found at The Human Path.

Sam Coffman

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