Bovine cutaneous papillomatosis is a common cutaneous disease of cattle in the Egyptian veterinary field. Ocimum basilicum L. (Rehan) is one of the aromatic plants originating in Asia and Africa. Many studies showed that Ocimum basilicum has interesting antiviral and anticancer activities. However, there is no report demonstrating the clinical significance of the anti-papilloma activity of Ocimum basilicum against bovine skin papillomas. Thus, our study was designed to evaluate the therapeutic potential of Ocimum basilicum extract (OBEx) as an anti-papilloma agent against bovine papillomatosis.
OBEx was prepared and undergone phytochemical analysis that revealed presence of alkaloids, phenolics, and flavonoids. Ten cutaneous papillomatosis-infected cattle were diagnosed clinically and histopathologically. Animals were treated with OBEx 2% ointment that topically applied daily and papillomas regression was recorded weekly.
Clinically, papillomas started to disappear from the 7th - 21th day after the start of treatment. Histopathological analysis showed improvement in histological features of wart tissue returning to the normal skin structure with presence of lymphocytic infiltration. We concluded that the topical application of OBEx is an effective, promising alternative, cheap, and easily apply agent for treatment of skin papilloma.