Herbal Medicines in Treating Typhoid Fever: Correlation of Information in Indonesia News Portals and Research Results

Abstract

Typhoid fever is a disease with a high prevalence in Indonesia. This disease is caused by a species of pathogenic bacteria called Salmonella typhi. The case of handling typhoid fever becomes more complicated when many cases of Salmonella typhi's resistance to antibiotics are found as the first line of treatment. An alternative treatment is needed to handle the resistance cases, one of them by using herbs. Indonesian people often use alternative medicine in the form of herbs. This study aims to see the correlation of news coverage in electronic media related to herbal medicine information in curing typhoid fever with the results of research that has been done. The research method used was an observation of electronic media with news related to typhoid fever in Bahasa Indonesia and reviews of scientific reports that showed antibacterial activity against S. typhi. The results showed that 17 herbs were informed in the media as anti-typhoid fever drugs, 11 of them (64.7%) had been studied as having antibacterial activity against S. typhi.