Phytochemicals as Cure of Worm Infections in Traditional Medicine Systems

Helminthic infections continue to be the major health hazard to the people, especially those living in tropical developing countries. Although these infections do not cause significant morbidity and mortality when compared with many other parasitic infections, they do cause substantial, but often less measurable effects. For example, infections with gastrointestinal helminths often lead to malabsorbtion, diarrhoea, anaemia and other states of poor health, particularly in infants and school-age children. Though there are several synthetic anthelmintics available at the present time against these parasites, the fact remains that a large proportion of the world’s population still does not have access to, or cannot afford to pay for modern medicines, particularly in remote rural areas in poor countries. Besides, the continued usage of current anthelmintic drugs is also posing a major problem of drug resistance in several parasite species. There is thus an urgent need for newer and inexpensive drugs that are able to act for longer periods before resistance sets in. In this context, traditional medicines, based largely on medicinal plants, offer a major and accessible source of health care to people living in developing countries. For much of our past history, forages, plant parts or extracts have been used to combat worm infections, and in many parts of the world natural products are still in use as herbal remedies. In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in new reports of the antiparasitic activity of natural products, both from scientific studies and from studies into the traditional uses of these products for treating diseases. Thus, plant/herbal based medicines are gaining a lot of attention and forming an integral part of the primary health care system the world over. Reports from around the world include an exhaustive list of plants that have been found to possess significant activity against helminth parasites. In several of such studies based on traditional use information, the crude extract of the plant has been tested for its putative anthelmintic properties, while in others the active ingredients responsible for the activity have also been identified and characterized to establish their mode of action. North-east India is known for its vast resources of medicinal plants. There is a strong tradition of using plant-based medicines in alternate system of medicine that is widely practiced among the native societies of the region and continues to thrive based on oral and emperical traditions. However, in respect of many phytochemicals, their medicinal potential and efficacyas vermicidal or vermifugalhas been scientifically validated. This paper reviews the present state of knowledge regarding the use of some traditional medicinal plants in curing worm infections in different regions of the world, with particular reference to north-east India. 16 352 Emerging Trends in Zoology