Herbal Approach to the Treatment of Chicken pox: A Case study of Giwa Local Government, Kaduna State. Nigeria

Abstract

Medicinal plants play crucial roles in the treatment of deadly but treatable diseases at little or no cost. This study evaluates some of the valuable medicinal forest plants commonly used for treating Chicken pox by the various ethnic groups in Giwa Local Government, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaires were administered to the identified respondents viz: traditional healer, herbs traders, and civil servants in the Giwa Local Government. Descriptive analysis such as frequency distribution, tables and percentages were used for data analysis. Results showed that nine trees and two shrubs were the forest plants used for the treatment of Chicken pox. These include: Ipomoea  asarifollia (Duman Rafi), Dyschoriste perrttetii (Fidda Hakukuwa), Indigofera nummulariiflia (Kwankwan) , Deuterium Senegalese (Tuara), Ziziphus abyssinica (Magarya), Ocimum basilian (Daddoya), Annona senegalensis (Gwandan Daji), Musa sapientum (Ayaba), Butyrospermum paradoxum (Kwara), Acanthospernum hispidum (Kashim yawo) and Manihot esculenta (Rogo). This study has proved that local people have a wealth of knowledge that need to be exploited and improved upon in forestry, parasitological and pharmaceutical researches.