Artemisia afra against malaria, bilharzia, Buruli ulcer

Artemisia afra a potential flagship for African medicinal plants This plant is growing from the Cape to Addis Abeba, from Mombasa to Kinshasa, wating to ber harvested, registered by the Ministry of Health in Tanzania, listed in the Pharmacopeia of South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, RDCongo and/or in several research papers of this African region. Its use in these countries was documented for the first time in1962 Watt JM, Breyer-Brandwijk MG, (1962). The Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Southern and Eastern Africa, 2nd ed. Livingstone, London. A recent paper of a South African research team shows that among 8 medicinal plants Artemisia afra has the lowest IC50 for impairing the development of late stage gametocytes. A very important finding as not many plants have such a significant gametocytocidal effect P. Moyo, M.E. Botha, S. Nondaba, J. Niemand, V.J. Maharaj, J.N. Eloff, A.I. Louw, L. Birkholtz . In vitro inhibition of Plasmodium falciparum early and late stage gametocyte viability by extracts from eight traditionally used South African plant species , Journal of Ethnopharmacology > 2016 . 185 235-242 In 1998 already, a study from Ethiopia found in an in vitro test on five medicinal plants that Artemisia afra had the highest antimalarial activity (IC50 7 mg/L) Kassa M. Mshana R, Regassa A, Assefa G. In vitro test of five Ethiopian medicinal plants for antimalarial activity against P. falciparum. Ethiop J Sci. 1998;21:81-89. This is similar to results obtained previously in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Ethiopia. When compared with other medicinal plants, Artemisia afra is always the strongest against malaria. Kraft C, Jenett-Siems K, Siems K, Jakupovic J, Mavi S, Bienzle U, Eich E. In vitro antiplasmodial evaluation of medicinal plants from Zimbabwe. Phytother Res. 2003 Feb;17(2):123-8. Clarkson, C., Maharaj, V.J., Crouch, N.R., Grace, O.M., Pillay, P., Matsabisa, M.G., Bhagwandin, N., Smith, P.J. & Folb, P.I., 2004. In vitro antiplasmodial activity of medicinal plants native to or naturalised in South Africa. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 92: 177–191. Moges Kassa, Robert Mshana, Azeb Regassa and Getachew Assefa (1998). In vitro test of 5 Ethiopian Medicinal plants for antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum. SINET: Ethiop. J.Sci. 21(1): 81-89. Gathirwa, J.W., Rukunga, G.M., Njagi, E.N.M. In vitro anti-plasmodial and in vivo antimalarial activity of some plants traditionally used for the treatment of malaria by the Meru community in KenyaJ Nat Med (2007) 61: 261. doi:10.1007/s11418-007-0140-0 As the authors from Kenya quotes: of particular interest was Artemisia afra which grows in upland bushes and forest edges in Kenya. It was interesting to note that the water extract showed twofold activity for the resistant strain W2 (4.65 mg/L) compared to the sensistive strain D6 (11,23 mg/L). The author concludes that the activity of A afra was due to the complex mixture of substances, which act additively or synergistically. C.N. Muthaura · J.M. Keriko · S Derese, G.M. Rukunga. Experimental Parasitology 2011. 127(3):609-26. DOI: 10.1016/j.exppara.2010.11.004 The use of Artemisia afra in phytopharmacy is in full agreement with WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014 – 2023 apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/92455/1/9789241506090_eng.pdf and WHO/EDM/TRM/2000.1. Traditional use refers to documentary evidence that a substance has been used over three or more generations of recorded use for a specific health related ormedicinal purpose. In this case WHO maintains its position that there is no requirement for pre-clinical toxicity testing. Pre-clinical toxicity testing is only required for new medicinal herbal products which contain herbs of no traditional history of use Artemisia afra is active against numerous diseases including HIV Lubbe A, Seibert I, Klimkait T, van der Kooy F. Ethnopharmacology in overdrive: the remarkable anti-HIV activity of Artemisia annua and Artemisia afra. J Ethnopharmacol. 2012 Jun 14;141(3):854-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2012.03.024. Epub 2012 Mar 24. M van de Venter, M.Pruissen, S Govender, In vitro anti-HIV and -TB activities of Annona muricata and Artemisia afra extracts, Planta Med 2014, 80. Doi : 10.1055/s-0034-1394687 The research at the USDA has confirmed that among all Artemisia plants, compared to Artemisia annua for example, Artemisia afra has by far the highest antioxidant properties. Jorge F.S. Ferreira, Artemisia Species in Small Ruminant Production: their Potential Antioxidant and Anthelmintic Effects. Research Report, USDA, ARS, Appalachian Farming Systems Research Center, 2009. Against Trypanosoma brucei it is stronger than Artemisia annua and much stronger than artemisinin. Nibret E, Wink M. Volatile components of four Ethiopian Artemisia species extracts and their in vitro antitrypanosomal and cytotoxic activities. Phytomedicine. 2010 Apr;17(5):369-74. doi: 10.1016/j.phymed.2009.07.016. Epub 2009 Aug 15. The same paper in his analysis of volatile components shows that Artemisia afra contains 29.10 % of 6,7-epoxi linalool in the essential oil, and the 3 other none. This is a strong peroxide which is at the basis of the strong antimalarial properties of Carica papaya. Artemisia afra also contains 1-desoxy-1alpha-peroxy-rupicolin A-8-O-acetate which has an antiplasmodial activity of 8 microg/ml in vitro. Kraft C, Jenett-Siems K, Siems K, Jakupovic J, Mavi S, Bienzle U, Eich E. In vitro antiplasmodial evaluation of medicinal plants from Zimbabwe. Phytother Res. 2003 Feb;17(2):123-8 One of the major constituents of Artemisia afra is the flavone luteolin. It could be used as a marker for the plant. It has strong antiplasmodial properties. A Lehane and K Saliba, Common dietary flavonoids inhibit the growth of intraerythrocytic malaria parasite. BMC Res Notes 2008 1:26 A Dube, The Design, Preparation and Evaluation of Artemisia afra in tea bag dosage form, Thesis, University of the Western Cape 2006 Fang An, Shulin Wang, Attenuation of Oxidative Stress of Erythrocytes by Plant-Derived Flavonoids, Orientin and Luteolin Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2016; 2016: 3401269. . doi: 10.1155/2016/3401269 MK Komperlla. The formulation and evaluation of rapid release tablets manufactured from Artemisia afra plant material, Thesis, 2004, University of the Western Cape Thujone, well present in Artemisia absinthium and in Artemisia afra, shows significant increases in T lymphocytes in vitro and in vivo. Siveen KS, Kuttan G. Augmentation of humoral and cell mediated immune responses by thujone. Int Immunopharmacol, 2011, 12 1967-75. Artemisia afra is rich in pentacyclic triterpenes with strong immune-modulating, antimalarial activity. Yusra Kriel, The immunomodulating activity of Artemisia afra, Thesis, University of Western Cape, May 2010 An analysis of the volatile components of four Ethiopian Artemisia species shows that Artemisia afra contains 29.10 % of 6,7-epoxi linalool in the essential oil, and the 3 other none. Nibret E, Wink M. Volatile components of four Ethiopian Artemisia species extracts and their in vitro antitrypanosomal and cytotoxic activities. Phytomedicine. 2010 Apr;17(5):369-74. doi: 10.1016/j.phymed.2009.07.016. A recent paper documents the anti-cancer properties of Artemisia afra. L Spies, TC Koekemoer, M van de Venter, Caspase-dependent apoptosis is induced by Artemisia afra. South African Journal of Botany. 2013 84 104-129 All this confirms the in vivo results obtained end of 2015 in a large scale, double blind randomized clinical trials in Maniema, RDCongo where Artemisia afra was one of the branches of the test. Artemisia herbal tea completely eliminated gametocytes but they were still present on day 28 in 10% of those treated with Coartem In 2013 already Dr Constant Kansongo in Katanga had found in a trial with 44 Plasmodium falciparum infected patients that after 7 days of treatment with 20 gr of capsules containing A afra powder the gametocytes had completely disappeared, except for one patient. Munyangi J, Lutgen P, Cornet, Vernet L, Artemisia afra : a deadly weapon against trical diseases Int J Clin Res Trials 2016, 1: 109 http://dx.doi.org/10.15344/ijcrt/2016/109 Constant Kansango Tchandema MD, Lubumbashi, RDCongo, Pierre Lutgen PhD, IFBV-BELHERB, Luxembourg. In vivo trials on the therapeutic effects of encapsulated Artemisia annua and Artemisia afra. GJRA – Global J Research Analysis. Volume-5, Issue-6, June – 2016 pp 228-234 • ISSN No 2277 - 8160 Artemisia afra does not contain any artemisinin. Frank van der Kooy at the University of Leiden found that Artemisia afra has anti-HIV properties stronger than Artemisia annua. The situation is completely different for artemisinin derivatives and ACTs, it is even alarming. A paper from Mali published in February clearly shows it Abdoulaye A. Djimde Amelia W. Maiga, Dinkorma Ouologuem, Bakary FofanaArtesunate causes recrudescence, Artemisia however kills gametocytes. Parasite. 2016; 23: 3 doi: 10.1051/parasite/2016003