Medicinal plants used against tuberculosis by traditional medicinal practitioners of Bogra district, Bangladesh

Tuberculosis is an age-old contagious disease, which often leads to fatality if not treated properly. Recently, there has been increasing concerns because the organism causing this disease has become multi-drug resistant. As a result, searches are underway throughout the world for discovery of novel compounds, which can be used successfully to treat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Since this disease is prevalent in Bangladesh and is often treated with herbal medicines by the traditional medicinal practitioners (Kavirajes), we undertook an ethnomedicinal survey of Kavirajes in Bogra district, Bangladesh to gather information on medicinal plants used to treat this disease. Plants were collected from the Kavirajes and identified at the Bangladesh National Herbarium. The collected information indicates that the following plants (with family name in parenthesis) are used to treat tuberculosis: Adhatoda vasica (Acanthaceae), Andrographis paniculata (Acanthaceae), Centella asiatica (Apiaceae), Catharanthus roseus (Apocynaceae), Holarrhena antidysenterica (Apocynaceae), Colocasia esculenta (Araceae), Pistia stratiotes (Araceae), Aloe vera (Asphodelaceae), Calendula officinalis (Asteraceae), Shorea robusta (Dipterocarpaceae), Ricinus communis (Euphorbiaceae), Swertia chirata (Gentianaceae), Ocimum sanctum (Lamiaceae), Allium sativum (Liliaceae), Hibiscus rosa sinensis (Malvaceae), Swietenia mahagoni (Meliaceae), Tinospora cordifolia (Menispermaceae), Eucalyptus globules (Myrtaceae), Piper longum (Piperaceae), Cymbopogon citratus (Poaceae), Zizyphus mauritiana (Rhamnaceae), Morinda citrifolia (Rubiaceae), and Vitis vinifera (Vitaceae). The anti-tubercular effect of Adhatoda vasica (mediated through chemical components of the plant like vasicine and vasicinone, and their semi-synthetic derivatives like bromhexine and ambroxol) has already been reported. It is important that modern scientific studies be conducted on other plants towards isolation and identification of compounds through which multi-drug resistant tuberculosis can be effectively treated.