The use of 5% tea tree oil for the prevention of infections in renal dialysis patients

An investigator blinded controlled study of the nasal application of 5% tea tree oil (TTO) versus mupirocin for the prevention of catheter-associated infections in renal dialysis patients

Status

Completed

Phases

Phase 2

Study type

Interventional

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12610000874011

Enrollment

100

Registered

2010-10-18

Start date

2010-08-01

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2026-02-04

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

"Golden staph" is carried in the noses of 20-50% of people at any given time. People who are having renal dialysis and who carry 'golden staph' in their nose are at a higher risk of infection than those who do not. To minimise this risk renal dialysis patients are given prolonged treatment with mupirocin cream which is applied in their nostrils to kill 'golden staph'. This has lead to resistant strains of 'golden staph' that are not killed by the mupirocin treatment. Tea tree oil ointment has been used to kill 'golden staph' in people's noses and prolonged exposure to tea tree oil has not lead to development of resistance in bacteria. It also kills a wide range of bacteria and fungi, not just 'golden staph and so we believe that tea tree oil would be at least as good as mupirocin at protecting renal patients from infection. So this trial is looking at the use of tea tree oil and comparing it to the use of mupirocin in protecting renal dialysis patients from infection with 'golden staph'.

Interventions

Use of 5% tea tree oil ointment as a nasal treatment instead of 2% mupirocin cream to eradicate nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus in renal dialysis patients. The mode of administration is 0.25g per nostril applied topically inside nostrils for both 5% tea tree oil ointment and 2% mupirocin cream and treatment time is daily for the first 5 days and then weekly for 26 weeks.

Study design

Allocation

Randomised controlled trial

Intervention model

Parallel

Primary purpose

Prevention

Masking

Blinded (masking used)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Have ESRD Haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis planned

Exclusion criteria

Known sensitivity to tea tree oil Use of medicated and non-medicated nasal ointments in the past 12 weeks Serious, uncontrolled disease (including serious psychological disorders) likely to interfere with the study and/or likely to cause death within the study duration Acute renal failure

Outcome results