A review of plant species assessed in vitro for antiamoebic activity or both antiamoebic and antiplasmodial properties

The resurgence of the protozoal diseases amoebiasis and malaria has been kn own to occur, from time to time, in endemic and epidemic proportions all ov er the world. Furthermore, the import of these individual pathogens to othe r areas from tropical regions encourages these protozoal diseases to occur on a global scale with considerable associated mortality and morbidity, Fro m time immemorial, the cure of these diseases has been attempted with the u se of traditional plant products, derived from such species as are availabl e within local habitats and ecosystems, and dependent on their host communi ty for their conservation. Scientific validation and in vitro investigation , continues to be an important requirement for drug development, particular ly with the emergence of resistance and cross resistance to some standard d rugs used in such protozoal diseases. This paper provides a comparative com pilation of the various studies reported between 1982 and 1999, on plants w ith antiamoebic activities and those which possess both antiamoebic and ant iplasmodial activities. The results suggest that it is advisable to increas e efforts towards the conservation of such plants, in order to retain their economic and therapeutic significance. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Son s, Ltd.