Ethnoveterinary Medicine - Validation

Validation

Herbal remedies used for hundreds of years by stockraisers can be put to commercial use, but scientists are demanding that traditional knowledge should be validated, to verify the safety and efficacy of the treatments.

IT Kenya has a project in the Samburu District that is investigating effective EVM treatments. Vetaid is collaborating with the Animal Disease Research Institute of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania while the Christian Veterinary Mission is investigating EVM in Karamoja, Uganda. Other organizations in the field are ANTHRA and SEVA in India, ITDG and KEPADA in Kenya and World Concern in Uganda (Mathias, 2004). Studies on EVM have been commissioned by UNICEF.

• Gauthuma (2004) tested the efficacy of Myrsine africana, Albizia anthelmintica and Hildebrandtia sepalosa against mixed natural helminthosis in sheep (Haemonchus spp, Trichostrogylus spp and Oesophagostomum spp) in the Samburu district of Kenya. Healers were included in the study and the extracts were prepared following traditional methods including mortar and pestle. Albizia anthelmintica and Hilderbrantia sepalosa treatments showed significant improvement over controls from day 4 after treatment to day 12. On day 12 the three plant remedies showed 100% efficacy while albendazole had an efficacy of 63%.
• Six of the 17 plant extracts used by the Hausa and other tribes of Northern Nigeria for symptoms probably indicative of viral illness were found to have antiviral activity (Kudi and Myint, 1999). The extracts of Eugenia uniflora, Acacia artaxacantha, Terminalia ivorensis, T. superba and Alchornea cordifolia showed trypanocidal activity (Adewunmi, 2001).
• The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya is evaluating 40 natural products used against ticks by the Bukusu people in Bungoma District (Wanzala, in process).
• The Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute in South Africa is screening the plants used in EVM for biological activity (Van der Merwe, 2002). Other work in South Africa has been conducted by Masika (2002).
• The anthelmintic efficacies of Teminalia glaucescens (48.4%), Solanum aculeastrum (34.4%), Khaya anthoteca (55.8%) and Vernonia amygdalina (52.4%) were tested by Nfi (2001). Nfi and colleagues had previously tested the insecticidal activity of Nicotiana tabacum and Tephrosia vogelli and plan to test the acaricidal potential of Euphorbia kamerunica and Psorospermum guianensis.
• MacDonald (2004) found that the traditional form of usage of Chenopodium ambrosioides infusions as a vermifuge is safer than the use of the herb's essential oil.
• Iqbal (2004) compared the in vitro and in vivo anthelmintic activity of Artemisia brevifolia with levamisole. In vitro studies revealed anthelmintic effects of crude aqueous (CAE) and methanol extracts (CME) of Artemisia brevifolia (whole plant) on live Haemonchus contortus as evident from their paralysis and/or mortality at 6 h post exposure. For in vivo studies, the whole plant of Artemisia brevifolia was administered as crude powder (CP), CAE and CME at graded doses (1, 2 and 3 g kg(-1) body weight (b.w.) to sheep naturally infected with mixed species of gastrointestinal nematodes. Maximum reduction (67.2%) in eggs per gram (EPG) of faeces was recorded on day 14 post treatment in sheep treated with Artemisia brevifolia CAE at 3 g kg(-1) b.w. Levamisole produced a 99.2% reduction in EPG. However, increase in EPG reduction was noted with an increase in the dose of Artemisia brevifolia administered as CP, CAE and CME.
• Githiori (2004) tested seven plant preparations of Hagenia abyssinica, Olea europaea var. africana, Annona squamosa, Ananas comosus, Dodonea angustifolia, Hildebrandtia sepalosa and Azadirachta indica in 151 lambs infected with 5000 or 3000 L3 Haemonchus contortus in 3 experiments and all were found to be ineffective.

Chinese medicine is also being investigated; treatments historically used for large animals are now being tested on pets. Nagle (2001) conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of P07P, a product derived from a traditional Chinese herbal remedy. There was a positive result, but it was not statistically significant.

Blanco (1999) found that traditional veterinary knowledge of Galicia, northwest Spain was still thriving due to distrust of the veterinary service. However, the traditional system of holding IK as oral knowledge of certain elders is not necessarily a panacea. Stories of loss are recorded in Giday (2003) and in (Ayisi, 1994).

The PRELUDE database on traditional veterinary medicine has over 5000 plant-based prescriptions for livestock disorders with each plant listed by family.