Abstract
Schistosomiasis is a widespread parasitic infection globally but more so in sub-Saharan Africa which accounts for about 90% of those seeking treatment globally. Fresh water aquatic snails are intermediate hosts of parasites causing the disease. Niclosamide was approved by the World Health Organization to be the main molluscicide used in the control of the snails. However, many plant species could be used as alternative molluscicides as they are environmentally friendly. This study aimed to isolate and characterize the chemicals responsible for the molluscicidal activity in the plants, Phytolacca octandra, Phytolocca dodecandra and Balanites aegyptiaca. Parts of the whole plant (berries, leaves, stems and roots) were collected, air dried to constant weight, macerated to a fine powder and extracted separately using methanol in soxhlet apparatus. After extraction, the crude extracts were isolated and purified. The melting points of the isolated compounds were determined and testing was done for alkaloids, triterpenoids, glycosides and saponins. The tests were positive for triterpenoids, glycosides and saponins but negative for alkaloids. Key words: Schistosomiasis, molluscicide, Phytolacca octandra, Phytolocca dodecandra, Balanites aegyptiaca.
Highlights
IntroductionSchistosomiasis is a devastating tropical disease (Jenkins-Holick and Kaul, 2013) and ranked second after malaria in terms of number of people at risk and those infected (Steinmann et al, 2006)
Schistosomiasis is a devastating tropical disease (Jenkins-Holick and Kaul, 2013) and ranked second after malaria in terms of number of people at risk and those infected (Steinmann et al, 2006). It is caused by Schistosoma trematodes (Oliveira-Filho and Paumgartten, 2000) whose intermediate hosts are a variety of fresh water snails (Jenkins-Holick and Kaul, 2013)
The disease causes a huge problem in sub-Saharan Africa where it is currently estimated that 90% of those requiring treatment globally are found in this region, leading to at least 200,000 deaths per year (World Health Organisation, 2016; Jenkins-Holick and Kaul, 2013)
Summary
Schistosomiasis is a devastating tropical disease (Jenkins-Holick and Kaul, 2013) and ranked second after malaria in terms of number of people at risk and those infected (Steinmann et al, 2006). It is caused by Schistosoma trematodes (Oliveira-Filho and Paumgartten, 2000) whose intermediate hosts are a variety of fresh water snails (Jenkins-Holick and Kaul, 2013). The extract of some plants species have been found to be potent in destroying the snails with some being environment friendly in comparison with niclosamide, the only World Health Organisation recommended molluscicide These plants include Euphorbia hirta (Yadav and Singh, 2011), Euphorbia milii (Oliveira-Filho and Paumgartten, 2000) and Jatropha gossypifolia (Yadav and Singh, 2014). The study further noted that an infusion of A. maritima causes 100% mortality of planorbid snails, their egg masses, schistomal miracidia and cercariae after 24 h exposure while having low toxicity to fish, insect and mammals. Chauhan and Singh (2014) established that petrol extract of the plant Alstonia scholaris shows molluscicidal as well as ovicidal activity against the harmful snails Lymnaea acuminata and Indoplanorbis exustus that are hosts to Fascioliasis and schistosomiasis parasites
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