RESUMEN
The essential oil of peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) has been found to have an in vitro pronounced and equal antimycobacterial effect in doses of 300 and 600 micrograms/ml, respectively. The use of its inhalations (upon 20-min heat evaporation into the room atmosphere for 2 months) as a supplement to combined multidrug therapy for pulmonary tuberculosis has indicated their significantly high positive effect in terms of abacillation (by 26.8 and 58.5% with doses of 0.01 and 0.005 ml/m3, respectively). This was followed by earlier positive X-ray changes in the lung and by attenuation of the intoxication syndrome. The findings suggest that peppermint essential oil may be used in combined multidrug therapy in patients with disseminated and infiltrative pulmonary tuberculosis.