A Review of Plant-Based Therapies for the Treatment of Urinary Tract Infections in Traditional Southern African Medicine

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are amongst the most common bacterial infections globally, with ∼11% of the world’s population contracting at least one infection annually. Several South African plants are used in traditional healing systems to treat UTIs, yet the therapeutic potential of these plants against bacteria that cause UTI remains poorly explored. This study documents southern African plant species used traditionally to treat UTIs. An extensive literature review was undertaken to document the southern African plant species that are used in traditional South African medicine to treat UTIs, thereby highlighting gaps in the current research that require further study. One hundred and fifty-three southern African plant species that are used to treat UTIs were identified. Eighty-five southern African plants were identified as having noteworthy inhibitory activity against the major UTI-causing bacteria. Few of those studies screened against all of the bacterial causes of UTIs, and none of those studies examined the mechanism of action of the plant preparations. Furthermore, many of those studies did not test the toxicity of the plant extracts, so an evaluation of the safety for therapeutic usage was lacking. Substantial further research is to determine their potential for therapeutic use.

Corrigendum: Acaricidal activity of the aqueous and hydroethanolic extracts of 15 South African plants against Rhipicephalus turanicus and their toxicity on human liver and kidney cells

No abstract available.

Corrigendum: Investigation of the acaricidal activity of the acetone and ethanol extracts of 12 South African plants against the adult ticks of Rhipicephalus turanicus

No abstract available.

Corrigendum: Anthelmintic activity of acetone extracts from South African plants used on egg hatching of Haemonchus contortus

No abstract available