Plants as de-worming agents of livestock in the Nordic Countries: Historical perspective, popular beliefs and prospects for the future

Preparations derived from plants were the original therapeutic intervention s used by man to control diseases (including parasites), both within humans and livestock. Development of herbal products depended upon local botanica l flora with the result that different remedies tended to develop in differ ent parts of the world. Nevertheless, in some instances, the same or relate d plants were used over wide geographic regions, which also was the result of communication and/or the importation of plant material of high repute. T hus, the Nordic countries have an ancient, rich and diverse history of plan t derived anthelmintic medications for human and animal use. Although some of the more commonly used herbal de-wormers were derived from imported plan ts, or their products, many are from endemic plants or those that thrive in the Scandinavian environment. With the advent of the modern chemotherapeut ic era, and the discovery, development and marketing of a seemingly unlimit ed variety of highly efficacious, safe synthetic chemicals with very wide s pectra of activities, herbal remedies virtually disappeared from the consci ousness - at least in the Western world. This attitude is now rapidly chang ing. There is a widespread resurgence in natural product medication, driven by major threats posed by multi-resistant pest, or disease, organisms and the diminishing public perceptions that synthetic chemicals are the panacea to health and disease control. This review attempts to provide a comprehen sive account of the depth of historical Nordic information available on her bal de-wormers, with emphasis on livestock and to provide some insights on potentially rewarding al eas of "re-discovery" and scientific evaluation in this field.