It is estimated that the U.S. population spends between $4 billion and $5 billion annually on herbal medicines. (1,2) Between 1990 and 1997, the use of herbal remedies in the U. S. population increased from 2.5% in 1990 to 12.1% in 1997. (1) In 1998, it was estimated that 15 million adults concurrently take herbal remedies and vitamins along with prescription medications. (1) In addition, patie...

Perceived causes, diagnosis and treatment of redwater (babesiosis) and gallsickness (anaplasmosis) in cattle by livestock farmers in communal areas of the central Eastern Cape Province were investigated by means of participatory methods, semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey. Most livestock owners relate the causes of these diseases to excessive grazing of lush green grass, whic...

OBJECTIVE To determine how frequently herbal remedies are employed as alternative therapies in rheumatic diseases, and the historical justification for their use. METHODS We conducted a survey in 250 outpatients in the rheumatology clinic of a teaching hospital in México. We registered general demographic information and the previous use of herbal remedies for rheumatic conditions, how effect...

Acne represents a significant challenge to dermatologists because of its prevalence, complexity and range of clinical expression. It is the single most common skin disease affecting 85% of teenage boys and 80% of teenage girls and can continue throughout adulthood. Treatment of acne with topical and systemic allopathic medicines results in mild to severe side effects. Hence, herbs and herbal pr...

AIM OF STUDY Malaria is one of the most important diseases in the world. Because of the devastating nature of the disease there is an urgent need to develop new drugs or vaccines for the treatment, prevention and management of the disease. The objective of the present study was to collect and document information on herbal remedies traditionally used for the treatment of malaria in the Dangme W...

The hepatotoxic effects of conventional drugs are well recognised, but herbal medicines are often assumed to be harmless and are advertised as such. The error of this assumption has recently received attention in the press,' but we think that doctors are not sufficiently aware of the potential toxicity of herbal medicines. We report on four women, three from Edinburgh and one from Tyneside, who...

Adulteration of allegedly "natural herbal medicines" with undeclared synthetic drugs is a common and dangerous phenomenon of alternative medicine. The purpose of the study was to develop a procedure for detection of most common synthetic adulterants in herbal remedies, using high-pressure liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS-MS). Eighty drugs belonging to vario...

although remarkable advances in modern medicine have brought about new strategies to cure diseases, there are still many people who tend to take herbal remedies to regain their own wellbeing. despite this tendency among the ordinary iranian patients, the issue is somehow controversial between medical practitioners. today it is known that physicians' attitude towards efficiency of herbs affects ...

The essence of ethnopharmacology is interdisciplinary research that usually involves traditional healers, botanists, chemists and pharmacologists. The role of researchers from pertaining disciplines is well defined in ethnopharmacological investigations. However, the exact role of a physician has not yet been distinctly clear in ethnopharmacological investigations. Historical data shows that di...