Abstract
Nearly all cultures use medicinal plants as a vital dietary resource, the ingredients collected from their surroundings being used for food and medicine. This study will provide the basis for further ethnopharmacological research by documenting the use of medicinal plants traditionally employed by the communities along the Aruanã River to treat malaria and related symptoms. While this is the first ethnobotanical study in this region, the socio-economic profile will also be evaluated as part of this study. We also aimed to review literature on traditional use of the cited species for comparison. Ethnobotanical data was collected using semi-structured interviews with 23 participants, which cited 29 species used to prevent and/or cure malaria and related symptoms. The interviewees ranged in age from 14 to 83, with 73.91% women, and 47.83% illiterate. Medicinal plants gathered from the wild and cultivated in gardens have been traditionally used to treat malaria and related symptoms among riverine communities. Documenting this local knowledge to compare with reviewed literature regarding efficacy and toxicity would be an essential part in the search for a new antimalarial agent.
Highlights
The Amazon Basin supports the largest remaining tract of tropical rainforest on the planet, being an ecosystem with the most diverse species, yet to be fully discovered[1,2,3]
Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax, are species found in the Amazonian forest, and generally are most prevalent in populations where the temperature and rainfall are suitable[11] In the Amazon region, malaria remains an important public health problem in spite of intense efforts to control it[12]
Twenty-three adults were interviewed in the communities along the Aruanã River, citing twenty-nine species to prevent and/or cure malaria and malaria-related liver diseases
Summary
The Amazon Basin supports the largest remaining tract of tropical rainforest on the planet, being an ecosystem with the most diverse species, yet to be fully discovered[1,2,3] Rich in both bio and cultural diversity, the Amazonian rainforest contributes towards global medicine, with medicinal plants possessing unique and varied biochemicals, which are one of the principal resources used to treat a variety of diseases[4,5,6]. Due to their close contact and dependence on the local biodiversity as a therapeutic resource, communities in remote rainforest areas have considerable experience with medicinal plants[7]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the incidence rate of malaria between 2016 and 2017 increased, largely due to increase in Brazil, P. vivax being the predominate specie[13]
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