Ethnobotanical Survey on Awareness of Medicinal Plants Used for Treatment of Urinary Tract Infection in Biharamulo District: Tanzania

Abstract

Introduction: In struggles to overcome a catastrophic disaster of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), many researchers are interested with safe and active medicinal plants. Kagera region is famous for uses of traditional medicines (TMs). Aim: This study aimed to identify medicinal plants used for treatment of urinary tract infection (UTI) in Biharamulo district, Tanzania. Methodology: To assess awareness of communities on UTI and its TMs, semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 400 respondents during ethnobotanical survey conducted in Biharamulo district at Kagera region. UTI medicinal plants were identified and collected. Data were analysed by using Chi-square test in SPSS version 16. Awareness of participants were justified at the statistical significance difference of p-values < 0.05. Results: The present study revealed that participants had awareness on UTI and its medicinal plants, because they identified clinical signs (85.2%), mode of transmissions and aetiologies (41%), UTI medicinal plants (99.5%) and used herbs to treat UTI (92.8%). Out of 42 medicinal plants identified for treating UTI, 29 (69%) of them had complementary ethno-medical claims or constituted active antimicrobial phytochemicals or pharmacologically proven for treating UTI and related microbial infections in literatures. The 29 medicinal plants belonged in 20 families where by the dominant were Myrtaceae, Leguminosae and Lamiaceae. Therapeutically, S. guineense, S. cordatum, C. citrinus, T. mollis, T. sercea, X. caffra, A. muricata, P. granatum, and J. mimosifolia were documented by the present study to be medicinal plants which elicit strong antimicrobial activities against UTI microbes. Conclusion: Findings from this study concurred with the previous ones for Biharamulo societies to have awareness on UTI and its phytomedicines. Research’s outcomes accentuate antimicrobial efficacies of the selected medicinal plants for treating UTI as claimed by traditional healers, significantly supported their uses and provided directions for further discovery of new UTI drugs.