Medicinal Plants Used Against Typhoid Fever in Bamboutos Division, Western Cameroon

Typhoid fever is a serious infectious disease that has been a public health concern for millennia. An impressive number of plant species are traditionally used in the management of typhoid fever in the Bamboutos Division of the West Region of Cameroon. In the present ethnobotanical survey an attempt has been made to document the different medicinal plants used traditionally by traditional healers and elders to treat typhoid fever. Ethnobotanical interviews on medicinal plants used to treat typhoid fever were conducted with traditional healers and elderly persons using open-ended semi-structured questionnaires. Field trips were made to the sites where they harvest plants, and specimens were collected and identified. A total of 59 medicinal plant species belonging to 56 genera and 33 families were recorded during the study. The most commonly used plant families recorded were Asteraceae (17%); Fabaceae (7%); and Bignoniaceae, Malvaceae, and Moraceae (5.0% each). The most frequently utilized medicinal plant parts were leaves (48.6%), followed by bark (28.9%), stem (7.8%), whole plant (6.5%), roots (5.2%), and fruits (2.6%). while shrubs (35,5%) were the primary source of medicine, followed by herbs (32.2%) and trees (30.5%). Most of the medicinal plant species (40.6%) were harvested from the wild compared to 38.9% from cultivated land and 20.3% semi-cultivated. Decoction was the most common method of traditional drug preparation. Oral administration was the only mode of dispensing of herbal medicine. Most of the plants were used in combination to increase effectiveness in the treatment of the disease. Knowledge of the use of plants as medicines remains mostly with traditional healers and older generation who are illiterate. It is recommended that research institutes and university researchers carry out research on these species so as to conserve and improve their genetic constitutions. Also, attempts must be made to encourage Published: October 15, 2013 Ethnobotany Research & Applications 164 www.ethnobotanyjournal.org/vol11/i1547-3465-11-163.pdf West Region Bamboutos Division common in regions where sanitary conditions are poor, particularly in Africa, South East Asia, and Latin America (WHO 1993). Annual reports from the Ministry of Public Health in Cameroon showed that 1800 and 5300 patients were affected in 1987 and 1989, respectively (Ghangha 1991), showing a rise in the number of cases diagnosed. Recent reports suggest that the diagnosis of typhoid fever is becoming more and more frequent in health facilities in Cameroon (Ministry of Health 1996), resulting in a public scare. According to Zofou et al. (2009), typhoid fever is one of the more endemic infectious diseases in Bamboutos Division after malaria. The WHO (1993) estimates that the global prevalence of typhoid fever is between 16 million and 33 million cases annually, with 500,000 to 700,000 deaths. To improve their health and both treat and prevent the disease, people use both conventional and traditional medicine. Traditional medicine still remains the main means of treatment for a large majority of people suffering from typhoid fever. Being a comprehensive knowledge system, traditional medicine encompasses the utilization of substances, dosages, and practices based on socio-cultural norms and religious beliefs as well as witnessed experiences and observations of a specific group. This knowledge is handed down from generation to generation in order to diagnose, prevent, and eliminate a physical, social, or spiritual imbalance (Diallo & Paulsen 2000). More than 80% of the world’s population relies on traditional medicine for their primary health care, and a majority of them use plants or their active principles (Gupta et al. 2005). Plants used in traditional medicine contain a wide range of ingredients that can be used to treat chronic as well as infectious diseases (Okafor 2001). These natural resources are widely relied upon by rural communities in developing countries because of inefficiencies or lack of hospitals Figure 1. Location of the study site, Bamboutos Division, West Region, Cameroon, Africa. 1a