Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
various herbal preparations. The use of these drugs is often empirical, and only a few are actually
beneficial to the patient. It has earlier been noted that these items and others currently recommended
by medical practitioners lack any scientifically accepted basis for their use.
2
The etiology of the
arthritic process is not even properly understood. It is believed that rheumatoid arthritis is partly
an immune complex disease since the rheumatoid factor has been shown to be an autoantibody
to immunoglobulin G, with which it circulates as a complex in body fluids, and this explains the
efficacy of immunosuppressive agents such as corticosteroids, antifolates, and alkylating agents for
the treatment of arthritis.
3
Similarly, the role of prostaglandin in the inflammation process can be
used to rationalize the prescription of known prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors for the treatment
of arthritis and other inflammatory conditions.
The available drugs often fail to provide the desired relief, and some have serious side effects;
hence, the search for new and better antiarthritic agents is a subject of continuing research in
many laboratories. Many plant-based drugs have competed favorably with synthetic compounds as
potential antiarthritic agents; common examples are preparations from licorice, annonas, ginger,
and colchicum.
In African ethnomedicine, various herbal drugs are prescribed by herbalists for the treatment of
a group of illnesses lumped together as “romantism” (corruption of rheumatism). These are condi-
tions associated with the diseases of the joints, tendons, muscles, or bones. Rheumatism in tradi-
tional medicine is believed to be caused by exposure to damp environments, particularly swampy
farms. Arthritis is usually blamed on the gods or evil spirits or is considered a sign of visitation by
unappeased deceased relatives. Sometimes, when the onset of the inflammatory conditions follows
a bout with malarial fever, the disease, known as “go-slow,” is accepted as being of pathological
origin and treated with herbs only.
Irrespective of the underlying cause of the ailment, the prescriptions usually include one or
more herbs, and when necessary, a sacrifice is made to appease the responsible spirit, gods, witch,
or other supernatural forces. Most native doctors proscribe the use of alcohol and palm oil soup
during treatment.
SEXUaLLY traNSMIttED DISEaSES aND aIDS
The vaginal cavity in normal healthy women is inhabited by a number of microorganisms that
exist in a dynamic microenvironment. Any disturbance to this ecosystem leads to a number of infec-
tious conditions and diseases. Sexual contact is the most common but not the only means of trans-
mission of these infections. Gonorrhoea, syphilis, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS),
genital herpes, genital warts, chlamydial genital infections. trichomoniasis, vaginitis and vulvo-
vaginitis are some of the sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It has been established that sexually
transmitted diseases (STDs) or venereal diseases (both ulcerative and non-ulcerative) increase the
risk of transmission of other infections, including AIDS because of changes in the normal vaginal
epithelium.
4
The diseases are caused by a variety of pathogens including bacteria (
Neisseria gonor-
rhoea, Treponema pallidum, Haemophilus ducreyi, Gardnerella vaginalis
), viruses (herpes sim-
plex virus, human papilloma virus (HPV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Chlamydia
(Chlamydia trachomatis), and parasites (
Trichomonas vaginalis, Giardia lambia
).
5
Traditional healers are very knowledgeable in the treatment of such diseases. It is uncertain whether
their remedies are entirely derived from traditional knowledge or from an adaptive response to a dis-
ease that was largely unknown to medicine three decades ago. A large number of plants are known to
be used in traditional medicine for the symptomatic treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, includ-
ing AIDS.
6
Some of the plants have been included in the Catalogue of Major African Medicinal Plants
(Chapter 2) and in individual monographs in Chapter 3 of this topic. Many of them have been shown
by laboratory and clinical studies to possess activity against the causative organisms.
7,8
