A potential herbal therapeutic for trichinellosis

Abstract

BackgroundTrichinellosis is a helminthic disease caused byTrichinella spiralis viathe ingestion of raw or undercooked meat of infected animals. Current estimates indicate that 11 million humans have trichinellosis, worldwide. The effective use of anti-trichinella medications is limited by side effects and resistance which highlight the critical need for safe and effective drugs, particularly those derived from medicinal plants. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the ethanolic extract ofArtemisia annua(A. annua) in treatment of experimentally induced trichinellosis.Materials and methodsTrichinellosis was induced experimentally in male 6–8 weeks BALB/c mice. BALB/c mice were divided into four groups, 10 mice each. One group was left uninfected and untreated, whereas three groups were infected withT. spiralis. Oneinfected group of mice was left untreated (negative control) while the remaining two infected groups received either 300 mg/kg of the ethanolic extract ofA. annuaor 50 mg/kg of albendazole (positive control). All treatments started from the third day post-infection (dpi) for 3 successive days. All animals were sacrificed on the 7th dpi for evaluation of treatment efficacy.ResultsOur findings showed thatA. annuatreatment reduced theT. spiralisadult-worm count in the intestine of infected animals. Moreover, treatment withA. annuarestored the normal intestinal architecture, reduced edema, alleviated inflammation as demonstrated by reduced inflammatory infiltrate and expression of TGF-β in intestinal tissues ofA. annua-treated animals compared to infected untreated animals.ConclusionsOur findings show thatA. annuaextract is effective in treating experimentally induced trichinellosis which highlight the therapeutic potential ofA. annuafor intestinal trichinellosis.