Background: Avena sativa, a well-known herbal medicine; has been used in various skin diseases such as eczema, burn and pruritus.
Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of this herbal medicine for treatment of chronic pruritus in Sulfur Mustard (SM) exposed patients.
Methods: Veterans who referred to Baghiat-Allah dermatologic clinic for itching problems were examined by a dermatologist and randomly assigned in three different groups. Group A received ointment derived from Avena sativa plant, group B, placebo and group C, betamethasone 0.1% cream twice a day for 4 weeks. Twenty five patients were included in each group. A visual analogue scale were used for assessment of severity of pruritus and 2 questionnaire for quality of life and quality of sleep were filled for each patient.  
Results: Pruritus severity after the study by VAS method was significantly decreased in all the groups, but betamethasone group showed the largest decrease (-2.4, P<0.001). The average quality of life based on DLQI criteria and quality of sleep based on PSQI after the treatment showed the most significant difference in betamethasone group (3.52, P<0.001 and  0.96, P=0.001 respectively). Although Avena sativa showed significant effect on these criteria but it was only superior to placebo and not as effective as betamethasone.
  Conclusion: The result demonstrated that Avena sativa ointment reduced chronic pruritus, increased quality of life and quality of sleep in patients exposed to SM but betamethasone was superior in all aspects.

Background: The current pandemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and severity of the infection and high mortality have almost unprecedented challenges in the health systems of most countries around the world. Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of Iranian traditional polyherbal medicine (Imfluna) containing a mixture of echinacea, stachys, artemisia, hyssopus, polybody, alpinia, ginger, and ginseng extract on symptoms of COVID-19 infected patients. Methods: In this placebocontrolled and double-blind clinical trial, a total of 60 voluntarily approved patients with COVID-19 were randomly assigned to the placebo and Imfluna groups. Patients in each group, in addition to receiving standard medications, took two 500 mg capsules of Imflona or placebo every 8 hours for 2 weeks. The patient's vital signs, including the severity of shortness of breath, cough, and body temperature, were recorded during the study. Also blood ESR, liver and kidney function tests were performed at baseline and endpoint. Results: The results showed that patients in the Imfluna-treated group had significantly greater improvement in daily cough, shortness of breath and ESR compared with the placebo group. In addition, lung lesions improved in the Imfluna-treated group, although not significantly. Conclusion: Patients with COVID-19 who were treated with Imfluna for 2 weeks had better comfort and fewer symptoms associated with the disease with no any drug side effects.