Animal‐Based Remedies as Complementary Medicines in the Semi‐Arid Region of Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

Animals (and their derived products) are essential ingredients in the preparation of many traditional remedies. Despite its prevalence in traditional medical practices worldwide, research on medicinal animals has often been neglected in comparison to medicinal plant research. This work documents the medicinal animals used by a rural community in the semi-arid region, inserted in Caatinga Biome, where 66 respondents provided information on animal species used as medicine, body parts used to prepare the remedies and illnesses to which the remedies were prescribed. We calculated the informant consensus factor to determine the consensus over which species are effective for particular ailments, as well as the species use value to determine the extent of utilization of each species. We recorded the use of 51 animal species as medicines, whose products were recommended for the treatment of 68 illnesses. The informant consensus in the use of many specific remedies is fairly high, giving an additional validity to this folk medicine. Eight species not previously reported as having medicinal use were recorded. The local medicinal fauna is largely based on wild animals, including some endangered species. Given a high proportion of medicinal animals observed in the study area, it is logical to conclude that any conservation strategy should include access to modern health care.

Medicinal Animals in Ethnoveterinary Practices: A World Overview

“…Mammals were the best represented group used for veterinary purposes (36 species, 36.7%), followed by arthropods and birds (16 species each, 16.3% each), reptiles (15 species, 15.3%), fish (6 species, 6.1%), echinoderms (4 species, 4.1%), amphibians (3 species, 3.1%), and annelids (2 species, 2%). The wide use of vertebrates follows the same trend that was observed in studies of human ethnomedicine (Alves 2009;Alves et al 2007Alves et al , 2011Barboza et al 2007;Begossi et al 1999;Branch and Silva 1983;El-Kamali 2000;Mahawar and Jaroli 2008;Souto et al 2011) and reflects the fact that vertebrates supply larger numbers of parts used as traditional medicines and many of these products can be easily stored (fat, feathers, leather, for example).…”

Animal-based medicines used in ethnoveterinary practices in the semi-arid region of Northeastern Brazil

“…Seixas and Begossi (2001) state that the parts are burned as a form of sterilization to eliminate the possibility of decomposition of organic materials. Fats were only administered topically, similar to the findings of Alves and Rosa (2006), Alves et al (2009) andSilva (2008).…”

Parallels between zootherapeutic practices in ethnoveterinary and human complementary medicine in northeastern Brazil

“…While zootherapeutic practices have wide geographical distributions and deep cultural origins (Cooper, 2008;Alves et al, 2010a), research on medicinal animals has often been neglected in favor of medicinal plants (Alves and Rosa, 2005;Alves et al, 2009a;Souto et al, 2009). This bias can be seen in EVM studies, as quite a number of ethnobiological inventories focusing on use of medicinal animals in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) have been compiled throughout in world in recent years (Alves andRosa, 2006, 2007a;Alves et al, 2007Alves et al, , 2009aFerreira et al, 2009), but zootherapeutic practices in EVM are consistently neglected and poorly described.…”