A Pilot Study to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Carica Papaya Leaf Extract in Increasing the Platelet Count in Cases of Dengue with Thrombocytopenia

The pilot study was conducted to investigate the platelet increasing property of Carica papaya leaf extract (CPLE) in patients with dengue fever (DF). An open labeled randomized controlled trial was carried out at two centres of Bangalore metropolis on 30 subjects in patients with thrombocytopenia associated with dengue. The subjects were randomized into two groups, as control and intervention group. Both the groups were managed by the standard management guidelines for dengue except steroid administration. In addition to this, the intervention group received CPLE tablet three times daily for five days. All of them were followed daily with platelet monitoring. The results showed that CPLE had significant increase in the platelet count (p<0.003) over the therapy duration, in dengue fever patients, reiterating that it accelerates the increase in platelet count compared to the control group. There were few adverse events related to GI disturbance like nausea and vomiting which were similar in both groups. Thus this study concluded that Carica papaya leaf extract (CPLE) does significantly increase the platelet count in patients with thrombocytopenia associated with dengue with fewer side effects and good tolerability.