The most lauded effects of essential oils is their ability to prevent and cure infectious illness. All essential oils have some level of antimicrobial action, working to eradicate bacteria, fungi and viruses from our bodies and also the environment. The antiviral features are specifically interesting, as viral illnesses are particularly tough to treat and prevent.

There's a significant amount of scientific research available via sources such as Pub Med, exhibiting essential oils antiviral activity. Here we'll look at the two "divisions" of research, and how we could then make use of oils ourselves to employ the benefits. Antiviral activity has been mostly examined using one of these techniques and conditions: the topical application of oils for the treatment of herpes simplex legions, and activity "in the test tube" against many other kinds of viruses.

Herpes simplex virus infections are very easy to investigate -- a lot of people carry the virus, and suffer occasional outbreaks, that gathering test subjects is easy. The appearance of the outbreaks is apparent, and thus is whether an essential oil has been effective at curing it.

It appears this treatment is the result of two actions of the essential oil: they prevent uninfected cells from becoming infected, and instantly destroy the viruses. It appears that oils somehow change the electrical potential of our cells in a way as to make it harder for a viral invader to break into the cell, whilst destroying the viruses themselves at the same time.

The most powerful essential oils for treating HSV (Herpes Simplex Virus) are melissa, geranium, and tea tree. The oils are simple to use for this purpose: just dilute alone or in mix in a carrier oil at a concentration between 5 and 10% and apply to affected areas. Some individuals will also ingest a drop of melissa one to three times per day when an outbreak is occurring, or whenever they feel their immune system is weak.

Viruses that cause the flu are inherently harder to check in actual patients, yet a large amount of data is accruing noting the ability of essential oils to eradicate these types of viruses "in the test tube". Bay laurel was observed in one study to be effective against the virus which causes SARS (sever acute respiratory syndrome), and tea tree has been shown effective against viruses which cause influenza.

A few practitioners using aromatherapy oils consider those oils from evergreen trees, like pine needle, to be strongly antiviral. Other oils considered highly effective incorporate: melissa, pine, hyssop, bay laurel, lavender, ravensara, and eucalyptus radiata.

Using these oils is really quite simple. The most effective way to protect ones self from airborne contagions is via the use of an aromatherapy diffuser. A diffuser makes a mist of the oils so that one can suck in higher concentrations than just inhaling directly from the bottle. A blend of several oils with antiviral properties may be most powerful, and equal parts of each should prove a reasonable recipe.

One might use the same oil blend topically too. Mix these essential oils at a 10% concentration in any carrier oil, and massage the feet (a particularly receptive region to the actions of essential oils), or even the lymph nodes in the armpits, neck and groin area, and also the chest-bone (sternum). Oils will rapidly move through the skin and into the bloodstream, quickly offering their therapeutic activity to the user. Whatever way you decide to make use of these oils, use your intuition to acquire the best effect. The science-proven rewards are sure to come your way.

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