Fwd: Can Traditional Medicine Help AIDS?

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Can Traditional Medicine Help AIDS?

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Can Traditional Medicine Help AIDS?

 

************************************

 

While billions of dollars have been pledged to help the

worst affected, many of the poorest countries are still left

without the medical support available in the west, and up to

80% of the population must rely on traditional medicine for

primary healthcare. Sam Burcher reports on some successes

with a native herb.

 

A fully referenced version of this report is posted on ISIS

member's website. Full details here

 

Medicinal plants have been part of the great healing

traditions around the world going back thousands of years;

the best known being the Indian Ayurvedic medical system,

Traditional and Western Herbal Medicine.

These traditional medicines are the basis of a quarter of

all drugs in today’s modern pharmacy [1].

 

 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines Traditional

Medicine as health practices, approaches, knowledge and

beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral based

medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques (e.g.

reflexology) applied singularly or in combination to treat,

diagnose and prevent illness or maintain well-being. In 2002

WHO launched its first comprehensive traditional medicine

strategy to assist efforts to promote affordable, effective

and safe use of Traditional Medicine and Complimentary

Alternative Medicine (CAM) [2].

 

 

In Africa, TM is used by up to 80% of the population to meet

primary healthcare needs and is crucial in the fight against

infectious diseases. The ratio of a conventional, or

western-trained general practitioner (GP) to patients is 1:

20 000, whereas the availability of TM practitioners is 1:

200 to 1: 400. This highlights the need for reliable and

affordable herbal medicines that are locally available [3].

 

 

In South Africa, it is estimated that over 6 million people

are living with HIV/AIDS and 150 babies are born with HIV

every day. Conventional drugs exist for the treatment of

HIV/AIDS, but they are only affordable by an estimated 1% of

sufferers. Three out of four AIDS patients in Africa rely on

some form of TM for treating the symptoms of HIV/AIDS (see

Box 1).

 

 

Sutherlandia Frutescens (subspecies Microphylla) genus

Fabaceae (pea and bean/leguminosae) is a perennial shrub

that grows wild in the arid regions of Botswana, Namibia,

Zululand, Western and Eastern Cape regions of Africa.

Sutherlandia can grow up to 1.5 metres in height in optimum

conditions of stony grasslands exposed to constant sunshine

in daylight hours. A display of blood red flowers bloom from

June to December and its seeds are carried in greenish- red

papery pods, which are almost transparent. The pinnate and

compound shaped leaves have a green-grey colour giving the

bush a silvery appearance [4].

 

 

The leaves and branches of the Sutherlandia bush are bitter

to the taste, but are known traditionally to have health-

giving properties. The dried leaves, containing four active

compounds, are ground by traditional healers to make into

tonics, teas, pills or creams (see Box 1). In the absence of

easily available and affordable anti-retrovirals, these

herbal treatments are used as the first line of defence in

combating the symptoms of AIDS and other wasting diseases.

Traditional Medicine practitioners who prescribe

Sutherlandia are keen to preserve the use of the plant as a

traditional medicine to maintain its patent-free status.

 

Conventional and traditional healers join up

 

**********************************************

 

An independent, inter-disciplinary partnership of TM

healers, botanists, conventional doctors and scientists have

joined up to form the group, PhytoNova, to prescribe and

record the medicinal benefits of Sutherlandia in the

treatment of HIV/AIDS symptoms. Dr Nigel Gericke, a GP and a

botanist and his colleague Mr Credo Mutwa, 82-year-old

traditional healer (sanusi), lead PytoNova's clinical

practice and laboratory

in Cape Town, South Africa.

 

 

PhytoNova makes and supplies medicinal remedies derived from

Sutherlandia for the treatment of HIV/AIDS symptoms direct

to their own patients and to AIDS clinics in the region

before a big pharmaceutical company can get their hands on

it. Hundreds of AIDS patients have been treated by Gericke

and Mutwa, who share the view that as long as they can prove

that something is in the public domain, and is widely used

to treat HIV/AIDS, then no one can come along and patent it

for profit.

 

 

The price to Africans for a month's supply of pills made

from the Sutherlandia bush is £2.50, and the powder form of

the dried leaves, which is thought to be more effective

because of its bitter taste, costs less than 60p for two

month's supply [5].

 

 

Gericke describes the promoting of weight gain in wasted,

full-blown AIDS patient as Sutherlandia's principal and most

valuable medicinal property. Frequent significant and often

sustainable gains in weight have been recorded in HIV

patients taking Sutherlandia tablets. Weight records of 244

patients receiving treatment of Sutherlandia between

November 1999 and September 2002 are available from The HIV

and AIDS clinic in the Ngwelezane Hospital. Weight increases

of up to15 kg were reported in the majority and in some

cases gains of 3-5kgs were sustained over the entire record

keeping period [6]. This physiological boost has an

immediate effect of enhancing energy levels and improving

the patient's mood. Gericke said: " We have seen several

examples of bed-ridden patients able to get up after a

month's treatment and even to return to subsistence

farming. " Other AIDS patients who were told to " go away and

die " are delighted to find themselves still alive three

years on after being treated by Mutwa. This anecdotal

evidence supports the theory that AIDS may have become a

chronic illness rather than a fatal one.

 

 

Gericke informed South African government scientists of the

benefits of Sutherlandia. These include improvements in

appetite, weight gain, sleep, exercise tolerance, anxiety

and an overall sense of well-being. But " because it was a

tonic, the scientists dismissed it. They always rush, with

classical reductionist thinking, to look for the magic

ingredient, " said Gericke, summing up the reality that

HIV/AIDS itself is so complex, that it is increasingly

apparent that there is no " one-stop " solution for its

treatment. Gericke has also appealed to his government to

grow the bush on a massive scale, to mobilise a public

health drive, but this too was ignored. To protect

wildstocks of the plant from over-harvesting in the region,

he has contracted local farmers to grow acres of

Sutherlandia shrubs. This precautionary approach has created

local employment and maintained the " not at risk " status of

Sutherlandia as a medicinal plant.

 

 

PhytoNova is convinced that progression to AIDS from HIV can

be delayed once the patient has agreed to receive the

appropriate treatment and doses of Sutherlandia, which are

taken on an ongoing basis, in addition to careful attention

to diet. It is recommended that alcohol; recreational drugs

and other drugs that damage the immune system should be

avoided. Anne Hutchings, an ethno-botanist and researcher of

traditional Zulu medicine at the University of Zululand, who

works in the weekly HIV and AIDS clinic at Ngwelezane

Hospital, supports these prescriptions. She uses

Sutherlandia derived products from PhytoNova in addition to

her own remedies made up from local plants (see box1). She

started with just 11 patients in 1999 and now has more than

400 [5].

 

 

In 2001, a community-based AIDS hospice in Emoyeni, South

Africa, admitted 71 AIDS patients for terminal care. Sister

Pricilla Dlamini treated the patients with Sutherlandia

pills and infusions of another local plant often referred to

as African potato (Hypoxis Hermerocallidea) PhytoNova

tracked the progress of her patients one year later. Of the

71 patients, 30 had been discharged as healthy back into the

community. Some have since returned for follow-up treatments

with Sutherlandia while others have been lost to follow-up

treatments. No adverse events were reported [7].

 

 

Virginia Rathele is a nurse and Zulu traditional healer

(sangoma) in the Northern Cape town of Kuruman. She is using

Sutherlandia pills to treat 300 AIDS patients in her clinic.

She says " Sutherlandia does not work properly just on a diet

of porridge. You have to have vegetables. " One of her

patients was close to death and weighed only 26kg, but after

receiving treatment and an improved diet now weighs 45kg and

is helping to run the clinic. Rathele is also keen to keep

the plant patent free and believes the treatment should be

accessible to everyone.

 

Traditional medicine dispels the darkness

 

******************************************

 

Historically, Sutherlandia has been called many names and

used for many purposes. The indigenous Koi San tribes-people

name it " Insiswa " meaning " the one that dispels darkness. "

Insiswa has been used for centuries as an energy booster and

anti- depressant. Sangomas know the plant as " unwele " , a

" great medicine " which so uplifts your spirit that you will

not want to tear your hair out and was prescribed for the

widows of Zulu warriors. The name " cancer bush " or

" kankerbos " is another name ascribed to Sutherlandia by

Afrikaners and attests to a traditional use as a cancer

remedy. Sutherlandia came to the attention of British

botanists when Zulu sangomas used it against the 1918

influenza pandemic that killed 20 million worldwide. The

English version of Sutherlandia was named after James

Sutherland, the first superintendent of the Edinburgh

Botantical Gardens [8].

 

 

Sutherlandia has a " beautiful portfolio of chemicals " says

Gericke (see Box 2). He has analysed and identified a range

of chemicals, which have been previously used for the

treatment of patients with cancer, TB diabetes,

schizophrenia and depression and as an anti-retroviral

agent. Some of these molecules, already identified from

sources other than Sutherlandia have US patents attached to

them for their use in treatment of these diseases [9].

Gericke recognises the great potential of the plant's

chemistry and says: " The claim we are making on the basis of

this, is that we can dramatically improve the quality of

life of many AIDS patients. We are certainly not making the

absurd claim that Sutherlandia is a cure-all or a cure for

AIDS.

 

 

The medical records of a patient who had ceased taking

conventional anti-retrovirals to combat symptoms of HIV

/AIDS for two years before turning to PhytoNova for

treatments using Sutherlandia pills were documented. These

show a marked decrease in the patient's viral load and a

significant increase of his CD4 lymphocyte cell count over a

six-week period. His starting CD4 count in May 2001 was 340,

which increased to 647 in June 2001. During the same period

his viral load decreased from 25 000 to 9 200 [10].

 

A study on toxicity

 

********************

 

To date, no severe adverse reactions to Sutherlandia in any

form has ever been reported. Nevertheless an independent

safety study was conducted by South Africa's Medical

Research Council because of the significant ethno-botanical

background and availability of the plant as well as the

severity of the HIV/AIDS problem in the region. The study

tested the effect of Sutherlandia on sixteen vervet monkeys

in four groups including one control. The monkeys were fed

with dried Sutherlandia leaf powder for three months and

exhibited no single indication of toxicity even in the group

fed nine times the dose prescribed for the treatment of AIDS

in humans. A massive dose of 1x 500mg/kg by mouth was

administered without any adverse effect. This is the first

South African medicinal plant to be evaluated for toxicity

using primates in a controlled study [11].

 

 

The Indigenous Knowledge Systems Division (IKS) of The MRC

in South Africa is committed to the scientific and clinical

validation of promising indigenous medicinal plants.

Sutherlandia is considered by IKS to have a long history of

medicinal use going back at least 105 years. It acknowledges

that a tonic made from the plants may be of value to people

living with HIV/AIDS in terms of enhanced well being,

increased appetite and body mass as well as increased

tolerance for exercise. Use of Sutherlandia is

contraindicated in pregnancy [12].

 

 

The IKS was formed in 2001, and has created successful

collaborations with traditional healers across the regions

of Africa. So far they have identified 20 traditional

healers across the region from the 300 000 that are

estimated to exist on the continent. The select healers are

encouraged to keep records of their consultations and it is

hoped they will train other healers to do so. A medicinal

garden project has also been started where plants can be

cultivated and identified. A library and computers systems

are also being developed alongside a TM database called

TRAMED III, which incorporates medicinal plant monographs.

 

 

Not all testimonies to the powers of Sutherlandia are

glowing. Stuart Thomson, director of Gaia Research has

attacked the plant, the MRC trials and PhytoNova. He says

Sutherlandia is a " poison panacea " and PhytoNova is

unlawfully distributing a substance, which he believes is

potentially toxic as well as using people as human guinea

pigs. Thomson considers the MRC study to be invalid because

the monkeys were not infected with HIV/AIDS and were studied

for less than six months [13]. He also raises some questions

on the safety of L-Canavanine (see box 2). But Sutherlandia

taken under allopathic or traditional medical guidance would

certainly seem to offer an alternative to sludgy liquids

made of industrial solvents which sell on the streets of

Johannesburg like hot cakes by those looking to exploit the

numbers of desperate people living with HIV /AIDS [14].

 

 

Of course, there are plants among Africa's flora and fauna

that are toxic and efforts are being made to study and

document these to avoid incorrect TM treatment of HIV/AIDS

or indeed any illness. One such plant recorded to have toxic

properties is Callilepis Laurealo or " Impila " .

 

One Sutherlandia plant can treat ten people

 

********************************************

 

Mutwa of PhytoNova says cultivating Sutherlandia is a

question of sanding each little seed with fine sandpaper;

planting, watering and letting them grow. He refuses to see

his country destroyed by HIV and AIDS when nobody really

knows the origins of the disease. His reminds critics that

the bark of the Cinchona tree forms the natural chemical

basis of quinine which, when used correctly is a successful

treatment of Malaria for many [15]. Since resistance to

quinine has become more prevalent, the shrub Artemesia was

discovered to contain Artemisian, an alkaloid with even

great efficacy for the treatment of mefloquinine resistant

strains of Malaria.

 

 

The MRC also plans a pilot clinical trial involving 50

people on the medicinal effects of Sutherlandia [16]. This

was scheduled to begin in February 2002, pending a decision

by the Governments Medical Approval Council. The Director of

the IKS Dr Matlalepula Matsabisa told the New Scientist " A

trial like this could act as a valuable template for other

trials. " He said [17], " The fact is people are already using

it and will continue to whether or not the government

approves trials. " It appears that Africa's first line

treatment of HIV /AIDS is Sutherlandia, local to the regions

where it is needed the most, whose history as a beneficial,

though bitter, Traditional Medicine puts it firmly in the

hands of the people.

 

Box 1

 

******

 

Primary symptoms reported byHIV+ and AIDS Patients in

Ngwelezane Hospital.

 

Oral and topical Traditional Medicines Prescribed to combat

the primary symptoms of HIV and AIDS at Ngwelezne Hospital.

 

Cough, cold, bronchitis

 

Lippia javanica (umsuzwane) fresh leaves to make tea

infusion.

 

Chest pain

 

Warburgia salutaris (isibaha) two fresh leaves in tea

infusion. Contraindicated in pregnancy.

 

Diarrhoea

 

Psidium guajava (guava) two crushed leaves with plenty of

liquid. Discontinue when symptoms subside.

 

Itchy, painful rashes,

 

Centella asiatica (pennywort) fresh leaves blended with

glycerine to make a cream.

 

Headaches, shortness of breath

 

Artemisia afra (umhylonyane) fresh aromatic leaves inhaled

from a gauze bag to ease symptoms.

 

Loss of Energy, weakness,

 

Hypoxis hemerocallidea (inkomfe). Weak infusions made from

the corms of the African potato make an excellent

strengthening tonic, but must be used under medical

supervision.

 

Loss of weight/appetite

 

Sutherlandia (unwele) tablets from dried leaves. One 300mg

twice a day with meals (half dose for child)

 

Oral sores, body sores, swelling,

 

Bulibine frutescens (ibhucu) sap from leaves, applied

directly or in a cream.

 

Throat infections

 

Siphononchilus aethiopicus (African ginger (indungulu)

Tablets made from the Rhizomes derived from fresh roots.

 

 

 

 

 

*Secondary symptoms reported by patients at Ngwelezane

Clinic: abdominal pain, night sweats/fevers, urinary

problems, nausea/vomiting and swollen glands. All the above

recommended TM treatments were made by healthcare

professionals at an HIV/AIDS clinic in South Africa .

 

 

 

Box 2

 

******

 

Medicinal Compounds isolated from the leaves of

Sutherlandia frutescens (subspecies microphylla>) L-

Canavanine is a potent non-protein amino acid, l-arginine

antagonist with documented anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-

fungal and anti-cancer activities. L-canavanvine has

patented anti-viral activity against influenza and

retrovirus, including HIV. A US patent registered in 1988

claims selective destruction of 95% HIV infected lymphocytes

in vitro.

 

Pinitol is a known anti-diabetic agent, described in its

1996 patent as having some benefits in the clinical

application of treating wasting in cancer and HIV/AIDS.

 

GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. This could account

for Sutherlandia's success in treating anxiety, stress and

depression and for observed improvements in mood and well

being experienced by patients taking preparations from the

plant

 

SU1 is a novel triterpenoid isolated by members of the Phyto

Nova team, which is showing promising biological activity

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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