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Keywords: Arthritis, Rheumatic fever, Inflammation, Herbs, Joint pain, Medicinal plants
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that affects people of all ages thereby causing chronic inflammation of joints and other areas of the body. As the diseases progresses, the joints become damaged leading to deformity. The precise cause of RA is still unknown. The aim of this study was to document the medicinal plant species used in treatment of RA. A cross-sectional ethnobotanical study was conducted in Nyendo division, Masaka district, in central Uganda. Data were collected from 108 respondents between January and February 2019 using semi-structured questionnaires. The respondents included 17 traditional medicine practitioners and 83 non-specialists. We documented 40 plant species, mostly herbs (57%) for managing RA. Most of the plant species are semi-wild (38.5%) and the leaves were the most commonly used plant parts (39%). The highest Informants Consensus Factor (FIC) were for chest pain (1.0), eye diseases (0.75), rheumatic fever (0.59), joint inflammation (0.56) and joint pains. The Fidelity Level indicated that Drymaria cordata and Symphytum officinale were highly multipurpose species. The frequent use of multicomponent recipes could be attributed to the belief in their synergistic interactions. It is believed that the poly-herbal prescriptions contain a range of active compounds. The residents of Masaka largely depend on different medicinal plants species in the management or treatment of RA.
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Department of Plant Sciences, Microbiology and Biotechnology, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda