Medicinal Plant Preparations Administered by Botswana Traditional Health Practitioners for Treatment of Worm Infections Show Anthelmintic Activities

oleh: Mthandazo Dube, Boingotlo Raphane, Bongani Sethebe, Nkaelang Seputhe, Tsholofelo Tiroyakgosi, Peter Imming, Cécile Häberli, Jennifer Keiser, Norbert Arnold, Kerstin Andrae-Marobela

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-11-01

Deskripsi

Schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths are some of the priority neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) targeted for elimination by the World Health Organization (WHO). They are prevalent in Botswana and although Botswana has begun mass drug administration with the hope of eliminating soil-transmitted helminths as a public health problem, the prevalence of schistosomiasis does not meet the threshold required to warrant large-scale interventions. Although Botswana has a modern healthcare system, many people in Botswana rely on traditional medicine to treat worm infections and schistosomiasis. In this study, ten plant species used by traditional health practitioners against worm infections were collected and tested against <i>Ancylostoma ceylanicum</i> (zoonotic hookworm), <i>Heligmosomoides polygyrus</i> (roundworm of rodents), <i>Necator americanus</i> (New World hookworm), <i>Schistosoma mansoni</i> (blood fluke) [adult and newly transformed schistosomula (NTS)], <i>Strongyloides ratti</i> (threadworm) and <i>Trichuris muris</i> (nematode parasite of mice) in vitro. Extracts of two plants, <i>Laphangium luteoalbum</i> and <i>Commiphora pyaracanthoides</i>, displayed promising anthelmintic activity against NTS and adult <i>S. mansoni</i>, respectively. <i>L. luteoalbum</i> displayed 85.4% activity at 1 μg/mL against NTS, while <i>C. pyracanthoides</i> displayed 78.5% activity against adult <i>S. mansoni</i> at 10 μg/mL.