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African herbal HIV treatment hope

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posted on Sep, 29 2009 @ 08:33 AM
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A traditional African medicinal remedy for AIDS has been showed to have some antiretroviral properties, according to microbiologists in South Africa.


Perhaps I should be giving my local GP a skip and head down to my local witchdoctor.


I am a believer that many traditional medicines can provide a more natural way to heal illnesses - they need more investigation instead of just being laughed off as .. well ... witchdoctoring.


The director of SANBio, a southern African network for life scientists, said laboratory tests on a healer's concoction of four plants had shown one of them to have antiretroviral capabilities.


Link 1

Imagine what medicines can be developed from plants, both known and unknown.

In a 2001 article about undiscovered medicinal plants it was stated that "The idea that tropical rainforests may hold the key to new medicines that can solve everything from AIDS to cancer has been around for some time. Indeed, one study found that of the 95 plant species now used for prescription drugs, 39 originate in and around tropical forests. "
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Weeds?


The scientists analyzed the discoveries by comparing the collected medicinal plants to a known database of some 9,000 plants found in Chiapas. Of these 9,000, 1178 are considered weeds. If weeds were randomly distributed in the medicinal flora studied, there should have been about 13 weed species present. Instead, there were an astonishing 35.


Big pharmaceuticals would hate for this supressed knowledge to become common knowledge.



[edit on 29/9/2009 by deltaalphanovember]



posted on Sep, 29 2009 @ 09:03 AM
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Can't patent an entire plant!



posted on Sep, 29 2009 @ 09:04 AM
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Yahya Jammeh, President of Gambia, has been claiming for two years at least that he has a cure for AIDS (apparently his ancestors revealed the details of a conconction in a dream). He has been personally administering this treatment to AIDS patients in the Gambia ever since, to much scepticism in the international press.

www.cnn.com...

Google "Gambia Aids Cure" and there is much reporting on it.

Mind you, they also believe that bathing in a scared crocodile pool cures infertility in women........



posted on Sep, 29 2009 @ 09:14 AM
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I would take it with a grain of salt. There are a lot of myth's in Africa regarding AIDS.


in her book, she makes reference to Africans who believe that garlic potatoes or sleeping with a virgin can cure AIDS.


HIV cured by Herbs?



posted on Sep, 29 2009 @ 09:18 AM
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A lot of our medicines ARE developed from plants anyway. But it wouldn't surprise me if there were undiscovered 'cures'.
I don't think there is anything innately wonderful about so called natural remedies as opposed to manufactured ones. They are all chemicals whatever and anything with the potential to do good also has the potential to do bad.
That said, in remote areas, people need to be able to source natural remedies. We will need that knowledge too, if we end up in a world without manufactured medicine.

[edit on 29-9-2009 by unicorn1]



posted on Sep, 29 2009 @ 09:27 AM
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reply to post by unicorn1
 


As you say, a lot of our modern medicines are derived from plants, and more plants are being researched everyday.

However, this is usually the result of a lot of money and scientists being used during the process.

A lot of of so-called tribal remedies have simply not been researched because of the stigma attached.

One of the great success stories to come out of local African medicine is the "diet" plant Hoodia Gordonii. A cactus that is used by bushmen for thousands of years and that is making waves all over the world:

From the moment the FDA removed the supplement Ephedra from the market, the weight loss industry has been scrambling to come up with the next blockbuster herbal formula, and they might have found it in the South African desert plant named Hoodia gordonii. Since it was featured on CBS’s 60 Minutes about a year ago, this light green, thorny, succulent shrub has become nature’s newest golden boy.

Originally, only the San Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert knew its properties as an appetite suppressant – they used it during persistence hunting, an unrelenting drive to track and fatigue game animals to exhaustion. That kind of magical diet effect doesn’t stay secret for long, and soon enough the pharmaceutical bio-pirates had it in their labs attempting to isolate the active compound.


edrabin.blogspot.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">Link




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