Plants used in folk medicine of Bangladesh for treatment of Tinea infections

Abstract

Tinea (often known as ringworm) is a fungal infection caused by various fungi like Trichophyton rubrum, T. tonsurans, T. interdigitale, Microsporum canis, and Epidermophyton floccosum. These fungi are known as dermatophyte fungi. Tinea can affect any age group but usually is seen in children. Patients suffering from tinea versicolor are quite common in the occasional rural clinics or even city hospitals of Bangladesh. The rural people of Bangladesh depend on folk medicinal practitioners, otherwise known as Kavirajes for treatment of various ailments, including tinea infections. The main characteristic of Kavirajes is that they depend on administration (topical or oral) of various medicinal plants for treatment of tinea infections. Ethnomedicinal surveys were carried out among the Kavirajes of Bangladesh, as well as tribal medicinal practitioners of more than 20 indigenous communities of the country to document the use of medicinal plants used for treatment of tinea infections by these healers. A total of 26 plants distributed into 23 families were found in the various surveys to be used by the Kavirajes. Although various plant parts were used, leaves constituted the majority of uses. The present review focuses on the medicinal plants used by Kavirajes and tribal medicinal practitioners for treatment of tinea diseases in Bangladesh along with any relevant scientific findings on the anti-fungal activities of the plants, which can validate the plants' traditional uses. The need for novel, efficacious, safer, and broader spectrum antifungal agents cannot be over emphasized. From this perspective, the above-mentioned medicinal plants may lend themselves to systematic modern scientific explorations in pursuit of novel antifungal agents.