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. 2022 Nov 1;11(21):2945.
doi: 10.3390/plants11212945.

Medicinal Plant Preparations Administered by Botswana Traditional Health Practitioners for Treatment of Worm Infections Show Anthelmintic Activities

Mthandazo Dube  1 , Boingotlo Raphane  2 , Bongani Sethebe  2 , Nkaelang Seputhe  3 , Tsholofelo Tiroyakgosi  3 , Peter Imming  4 , Cécile Häberli  5   6 , Jennifer Keiser  5   6 , Norbert Arnold  1 , Kerstin Andrae-Marobela  2
Affiliations

Medicinal Plant Preparations Administered by Botswana Traditional Health Practitioners for Treatment of Worm Infections Show Anthelmintic Activities

Mthandazo Dube et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths are some of the priority neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) targeted for elimination by the World Health Organization (WHO). They are prevalent in Botswana and although Botswana has begun mass drug administration with the hope of eliminating soil-transmitted helminths as a public health problem, the prevalence of schistosomiasis does not meet the threshold required to warrant large-scale interventions. Although Botswana has a modern healthcare system, many people in Botswana rely on traditional medicine to treat worm infections and schistosomiasis. In this study, ten plant species used by traditional health practitioners against worm infections were collected and tested against Ancylostoma ceylanicum (zoonotic hookworm), Heligmosomoides polygyrus (roundworm of rodents), Necator americanus (New World hookworm), Schistosoma mansoni (blood fluke) [adult and newly transformed schistosomula (NTS)], Strongyloides ratti (threadworm) and Trichuris muris (nematode parasite of mice) in vitro. Extracts of two plants, Laphangium luteoalbum and Commiphora pyaracanthoides, displayed promising anthelmintic activity against NTS and adult S. mansoni, respectively. L. luteoalbum displayed 85.4% activity at 1 μg/mL against NTS, while C. pyracanthoides displayed 78.5% activity against adult S. mansoni at 10 μg/mL.

Keywords: S. mansoni; neglected tropical diseases; nematodes; schistosomiasis; soil transmitted helminths; traditional medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Anthelmintic activity of the plant extracts against the parasitic organisms. Activity based on three replicates. Statistical analysis (one way ANOVA, p ≤ 0.001, and an all pairwise multiple comparison procedure (Tukey Test), * extract activities determined to be significant) was performed using SigmaPlot 14.0 (Supplementary Materials, Table S3).
Figure 1
Figure 1
Anthelmintic activity of the plant extracts against the parasitic organisms. Activity based on three replicates. Statistical analysis (one way ANOVA, p ≤ 0.001, and an all pairwise multiple comparison procedure (Tukey Test), * extract activities determined to be significant) was performed using SigmaPlot 14.0 (Supplementary Materials, Table S3).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Anthelmintic activity of the most active plant extracts at reduced concentrations against newly transformed schistosomula (NTS). Activity based on three replicates. Statistical analysis (one way ANOVA, p ≤ 0.001, and an all pairwise multiple comparison procedure (Tukey Test), * extract activities determined to be significant) was performed using SigmaPlot 14.0 (Supplementary Materials, Table S4).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Anthelmintic activity of the plant extracts against S. mansoni. Activity based on three replicates. Statistical analysis (one way ANOVA, p ≤ 0.001, and an all pairwise multiple comparison procedure (Tukey Test), * extract activities determined to be significant) was performed using SigmaPlot 14.0 (Supplementary Materials, Table S5).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Map of Botswana showing areas where plants where collected (adapted from [74]).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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