treat malaria

[darkstar]

I was just talking to a North PNG Man I met, and he was telling me about how his family using Pawpaw (NOT Asimina triloba) to treat malaria.

This interests me as I live in an place were with malaria has been known to turn up.

According to this guy the leave could be boiled and eaten to reduce the symptoms, and the flowers should be boiled and eaten when the malaria started to be overcome.

A preliminary search of the net seems to add some credibility to this clam, but the finer details were harder to find.

Anyone have any idea if there are any actives and if so what they are?

Or is this beyond the scope of this forum?

[Auxin]

Asimina triloba) to treat malaria....

Anyone have any idea if there are any actives and if so what they are?

Dr. James duke reports that asimicin (picture here) has been found to have antimalarial action at IC50=4 ppm. Chech out Dukes site to get a full list of constituents.

Or is this beyond the scope of this forum?

Fits here fine- after all if 'ethnobotany' were only about intoxicant drugs the human race would just be a pack of stoned cave men ;)

[2b]

I carry Artemether tablets when in the tropics. Call me a cynic but pharmamcutical companies put the fear of god into us and say we need to take Doxycyline (SP?) or Larium (SP?) when anywhere near the tropics. I won't take Larium as I'm mad enough with them and my experiences with Doxycyxline has been less thn pleasent , (photosensative skin in the tropics is no fun at all). So my solution , avoid the mosquito at dawn and dusk and if you do get malaria treat it with Artemether and try to get home ASAP. This approach works fine for me in PNG and the Asia Pacific region , but ulimatly the choice is yours to make.

Nomeclature:

Offiial name(Chinese Phonetic): Haojiami pian

English: Artemether Tablets.

The drug is mainly composed of Artemether. The chemical name is (3R,5aS,6R,8aS,9R,10S,12R,12aR)-decahydro-10-methoxy3,6,9-trimethyl-3,12-epoxy-12H-pyronal [4,3-j]-1,2-ben-zodioxepin.

Molecular Formula: C 16 H 26 O 5 Molecular Weight:298.4

Description: White tablets.

PHARAMCOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY:

Animal pharmacodynamics showed that the drug is a strong schizonticide. Parasitemia clearance occurs rapidly with stable efficacy after adimistration. It is also effective against chloroquine-resistant P. falciparum malaria.

Acute toxicity studies on animals showed that a LD50 of Artimether in mice of a single i.g. vadimistration is 895mg/kg ; in rats , the LD50 of a single i.m. injection is 597mg/kg.This proves the toxicity of Artemether is quite low.

PHARMOKINETICS:

The drug is absorbed rapidly and completely after oral administration with the plasma half-life of about 13 hours.It is widely distributed in the body with the highest level in the brain and followed by the liver and kidney.It is mainly excreted in the feces with a part in urine.

INDICATIONS:

Antimalarial drug. For the treatment of all kinds of malaria including chloroquinine-resistant P. falciparum and Plasmodium viax malaria.

USAGE AND DOSAGE:

The drug is for oral administration. Once daily for 5 consecutive days. The initial dose for adults is 200mg(4 tablets) , followed by 100my (2 tablets) each time from the second to the fifth day. The dose for children or overweight patients should be decreased or increased on the basis of individual weight or under the docotrs perscription.

ADVERSE REACTIONS:

Clinical dosage exhibits slight adverse reactions.A transient low fever and reticulocytopenia may occur in individual cases. Slight rise of SGOT and SGPT may occur in individual cases. Arrhythimia may occur in rare cases (such as ventricular tachycardia)

CONTRADICTIONS: No

PRECAUTIONS:

The drug shuold be used with caution in patients vomiting severly;

For the first aid of critical malaria, Artemether Injection preferred.

PREGANCY AND LACTATION:

It should be used with caution in the first trimester of pregnancy since some foetus absorbtion has been observed.

DRUG INTERACTIONS:

Studies and reviews in the litriture demonstrated that the active substance of Artimether had no interactions with other drugs on decreasing theraputic effects and increasing toxicity and side effects in human bodies.

OVERDOSE:

Although no case of overdose has been documented , in case of accident , symptomatic treatment is recomended under the instruction of doctors.

RATIFICATION NO: (97)WYZZ X-102(2)

This information has been taken from the box i have here and in no way should be relied apon with out getting your own advice. : )

[Rev]

Ok first up if the dudes in PNG then its not going to be asimina triloba

thats a temperate north american annonaceae with a nice fruit

aka custard banana or american pawpaw or whatever else they call it

Pawpaw in australian english refers to the originally sth american but now pantropical smallfruit carica papaya

known elsewhere as the papaya

In Indonesia the exact same things is said. young shoots and leaves eaten as a vegetable to ward offf malaria

i would bet 10 bucks he means carica not asimina

nice info tho auxin

The artemsesin like drug is a synthetic version of artemesin from artemisia annua aka sweet annie or qing hao etc

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceed...990/V1-522.html

it interferes with the iron metabolism of the plasmodium parasite and is highly effective

other good ones to look at for malaria

tabernaemontana australis

ask T all about this one..

Momordica charantia - bitter melon / Fu gwa

http://www.tropilab.com/momordica-cha.html

http://alternativehealing.org/ku_gua.htm

contains quinine

i see coles stocks them now, or you can buy seeds or fruit at asian grocery store. allow to mature and its splits open to reveal seeds

and of course cinchona sp.

better cultivars of which can vbe found in javanese botanic gardens

love seeds if anyone goes that way before me.

[darkstar]

Ok first up if the dudes in PNG then its not going to be asimina triloba, i would bet 10 bucks he means carica not asimina

Mate this guy just called it pawpaw, I'll take you'r word for it that he meant carica.

The wrong name is my fault, I just searched under pawpaw and grabbed the first species name that popped up.

Thanks for setting me strait on that one.

[Rev]

i though that might have been the case, wasnt meaning to be terse

not many people in australia even know what asimina is

even in its native country its poorly developed

PNG has had a fair whack of australian involvemnt over the years

chances are the idiom passed straight over

[elzar]

i was reading recently of the use of opium to treat such things as milaria and dysentry just the other day. apparently milaria is killed off by the alkaloids. which is interesting due to all these new pharms becoming less effective and causing even more resistant strains.