Therapeutic potential of medicinal plants for the management of scabies

Abstract

Sarcoptes scabiei (S. scabiei), a parasite mite which causes scabies disease resulting in serious public health concern. The long-term scabies disease can lead to complications such as septicemia, acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis, heart disease, and secondary infections. Timely treatment to the affected patients is required to control the disease and get rid of the causative agent. Delayed diagnosis and inappropriate treatment can lead to serious consequences. The most common treatment strategy is the use of allopathic medicines which can immediately relieve the patient but have the drawback of side effects. The safe and cost-effective alternative treatment strategy is the use of medicinal plants which have beneficial therapeutic potential against variety of diseases due to the presence of many bioactive phytoconstituents with no or minimal side effects. For the present review, the published articles describing scabies disease and its phytotherapeutic modalities were searched through different data bases including Google Scholar, PubMed, Medline, and ScienceDirect using the keywords like S. scabiei, prevalence of scabies disease, and phytotherapy of scabies. A large number of medicinal plants, such as Melaleuca alternifolia, Curcuma longa, Azadirachta indica, Rosmarinus officinalis, Capsicum annuum, Cinnamomum camphor, Solanum nigrum, and Eupatorium perfoliatum, have been reviewed for the promising future treatments of scabies. All the studied plants have many bioactive compounds with potential therapeutic effects against scabies and can be utilized for therapeutic purposes for this disease. This literature study has limitations because of the lack of sufficient data due to limited pre-clinical trials in this particular area. This review provides a baseline to explore the therapeutic potential of these medicinal plants against skin diseases. However, extensive studies are required to identify, authenticate, and characterize the bioactive compounds present in these plants which may lead to value addition in pharmaceutical industries providing the cost-effective way of treatment with minimal side effects. K E Y W O R D S

Sarcoptes Infestation. What Is Already Known, and What Is New about Scabies at the Beginning of the Third Decade of the 21st Century?

“…Medical plants are safe, effective, and patient-friendly natural treatment methods for scabies. Essential oils and plant extracts may be ordered in different forms: as a shampoo (extract of Azadirachta indica ), paste ( Curcuma longa , Aegle marmelos, Cayenne), syrup ( Solanum nigrum L, Tinospora cordifolia ) or added to a hot water bath ( Capsicum annuum ) [ 90 ]. The use of plant-based products raises high hopes, but there are several problems that will surely affect the introduction of these preparations in the treatment of patients infected with Sarcoptes .…”

“…One of them is the possibility of causing contact dermatitis. Medical plant agents require careful studies on humans, as the current knowledge confirms their effectiveness in vitro or in animals [ 90 ]. Some of these agents are limited by geographical locations.…”

Uyuz Hastaliği (Skabi̇yes), Tedavi̇si̇ Ve Uyuz Hastaliği Tedavi̇si̇nde Kullanilan Bi̇tki̇ler

“…Melaleuca alternifola (Maiden & Betche) Cheel'nın (çay ağacı; Myrtaceae) yapraklarından ve genç dal uçlarından su distilasyonu ile elde edilen uçucu yağdır. Kabuklu skabieste ve standart tedavilere cevap vermeyen dirençli vakalarda adjuvan topikal ilaç olarak etkinliği gösterilmiştir [40,41].…”

Topinambur (The Jerusalem Artichoke): Nutritional Value and Its Application in Food Products: An Updated Treatise

“…Polysaccharides, which are part of the cell membranes of tubers' tissues (food fibers), are in the second place after inulin in quantitative relation. Pectins and dietary fibers have a therapeutic effect in the treatment of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, which determines the use of products from topinambur in therapeutic and preventive nutrition (Zhang et al, 2015;Akram et al, 2020;Kakimov et al, 2021). It is known that dried tubers of topinambur contain increased content of silicon (up to 8% per ash residue), potassium up to 2000 mg%, iron and other macroand microelements (Nikolaevich, 2000).…”