Medicinal plants used by folk and tribal medicinal practitioners of Bangladesh for treatment of gonorrhea

Abstract

Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease and is prevalent in practically every country of the world, including Bangladesh. Although ciprofloxacin is one of the recommended drugs of choice for the treatment of gonorrhea, in vitro resistance to this drug has been reported from many parts of the world. This is also applicable to Bangladesh, where strains have been found of the gonorrhea causing microorganism, Neisseria gonorrhea, which has developed resistance to a number of antibiotics. As such, development of new antibiotics is essential. The plant kingdom can be a valuable source for such new drugs. Various forms of traditional medicinal practices exist in Bangladesh of which folk medicine is the most common. Folk medicinal practitioners, otherwise known as Kavirajes, rely essentially on medicinal plants for treatment of various ailments. Gonorrhea is one such ailment, which is widely treated by the Kavirajes. The objective of this study was to document the medicinal plants used by the Kavirajes for treatment of gonorrhea. Additionally, tribal medicinal practitioners from various tribes of Bangladesh were also interviewed to document any medicinal plants that they use for treatment of this disease. A survey of both Kavirajes and tribal medicinal practitioners revealed that a total of 96 plants distributed in to 54 families were used for treatment of gonorrhea. The Fabaceae family contributed the largest number of plants with ten plants used from this family. The Euphorbiaceae family contributed six plants followed by the Lamiaceae and the Malvaceae family with five and four plants, respectively. The Amaranthaceae, Combretaceae, Liliaceae, Menispermaceae, Moraceae, and the Solanaceae family contributed three plants each. Anti-gonorrheal activities have been reported for a number of plants in the scientific literature for the medicinal plants used in Bangladesh for treatment of gonorrhea. Taken together, the plants merit further studies for discovery of new drugs, which can be used to combat various existing antibiotic-resistant strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Full Text Link: http://www.aensiweb.net/AENSIWEB/aejsa/aejsa/2011/270-275.pdf