In a study by Ma and colleagues, the effect and mechanism of Shuanghua aerosol (SHA) was investigated on upper respiratory tract infections in children aged from 3 to 14 years. SHA consists of Flos Chrysanthemum Indicum, Flos Lonicera, Herba Houttuynia, Radix Bupleurum and menthene. The control treatment was Shuanghuanglian aerosol (SHLA) which consists of Flos Lonicera, Fructus Forsythia and Radix Scutellaria. A total of 276 patients were randomly divided into one of these two groups: 208 into the treatment group and 68 into the control group. The treatment time for both groups was 3 days and the drugs were administered by spraying to the throat eight times daily. The clinical total effective rate of SHA was 99.03% and its cure rate 65.38%, while with SHLA these rates were 94.11% and 44.12%, respectively; the difference in effect between groups was statistically significant (P < 0.01). Concomitant in vitro work with mice and rats showed that SHA could reduce swelling and inhibit proliferation of influenza virus.

The authors conclude that SHA has obvious anti-inflammatory and antiviral effects and has a good curative effect in treating infantile upper respiratory tract infections.