The use of medicinal plants for parasitic diseases

• Main Authors: Cinthia Rodrigues Melo, Andressa Brito Lira, Mateus Feitosa Alves, Caliandra Maria Bezerra Luna Lima
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal de Campina Grande 2017-02-01
• Series: Acta Brasiliensis
• Online Access: http://revistas.ufcg.edu.br/ActaBra/index.php/actabra/article/view/7

The use of plants for the treatment of many diseases comes from the knowledge of ancestors and propagates over the years, proving to be a good alternative, especially for those with low financial resources. Among the diseases treated are the parasitic diseases that are the cause of more than 200 thousand deaths per year. This systematic review search for in the literature plant species used by different communities of the world for the treatment of parasitoses. Were used primary databases: PubMed, SciELO e LILACS. The terms used in the search were found in the English language, associated with the Boolean operator AND: “parasitic diseases” AND “plants medicinal”. Finding 853 publications, after which inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, selecting of 9 articles. Were found 67 species of 42 families, in which the Leguminosae family was the most cited by the population, and the most used plant species were Azadirachta indica, Euphorbia abyssinica and Mangifera indica, with featured on the first. Malaria had a more number of medicinal plants for its treatment. Even with drug development, it can be observed that traditional medicine hasn`t fallen into disuse, encouraging scientific studies that ensure the therapeutic efficacy of these medicinal plants.