Don’t use garlic for yeast infections
Public Health Specialist, Dr Orapeleng Phuswane-Katse has warned women against using garlic for yeast infections, citing risk for further infections.She explained that while there are a few studies to support the claim that garlic has anti-fungal properties, it is never safe to put anything that is not regulated in the vaginal area. On Monday, a woman took to social media to seek a remedy describing her symptoms as itchiness and a white discharge from her private area. Out of the 375 comments that she got, almost half advised her to insert garlic into her genital area. The comments indicated that the symptoms would disappear within three days. “I remember I had the same problem back in 2017, I could not stand the itchiness, a friend of mine advised me to insert garlic, and within two days it was gone,” wrote one commentator. Another one wrote: “Take a clove of fresh garlic and peel off the natural white shell that covers it, leaving the clove intact. At bedtime, put the clove in the private area. “In the morning, remove the garlic clove and throw it in the toilet. I did this one time, if the itchiness goes on, continue for one or two days until all the itchiness is gone.” However, Dr Phuswane-Katse advised that the only alternative is to see a doctor when one has the symptoms.“The vagina is a fragile moist area that has bacteria that regulates the PH in there. Any foreign objects can cause laceration and even introduce unwanted bacteria that can cause more harm than good”. Furthermore, she added, “There is no regulated size of the garlic to insert and this may pose danger. Questions like, ‘how many hours do you remove it, in what state should you insert it, crushed or whole’? Since its not regulated medicine, there can be no clear answer”. Dr Tebogo Oleseng, a gynaecologist and obstetrician said women need to be more careful, saying that the birth canal is the ‘perfect’ environment for the botulism bacteria to grow, which can be life-threatening. Botulism, a condition caused by Clostridium botulinum bacteria, can be offset when someone eats food containing toxins because it has not been properly canned, preserved or cooked. He advised women not to take medical advice from anyone recommending vaginal garlic for yeast or anything else because there are antifungal drugs specifically for yeast infection. He explained that garlic contains allicin, which in the lab has shown to have antifungal properties. “Bacteria from the soil can be pathogenic for the body. That is why we clean wounds. If you actually happen to have an inflamed yeasty vagina, soil bacteria would be more likely to infect it,” he said.