Research from the University of Texas Medical School and Health Science Center has found that a medicinal mushroom extract may be able to eradicate human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted disease.

Presented last fall at the 11th International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology, in Houston, the clinical study treated 10 women that tested positive for HPV with the mushroom mycelia extract called active hexose correlated compound (AHCC).

The patients were given three grams of the AHCC once a day for six months or longer. Eight of them tested negative for HPV after the period, including three that were confirmed HPV-eradicated after stopping the AHCC treatment. The two other patients continued receiving the extract.

A phase II clinical trial led by Dr. Judith Smith, a professor at the UT Medical School, will be conducted.