Traditional Healing Methods: Focus on the Medicinal Plants Against Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection

: Background: In African health care system, medicinal plants are major components and most assorted of all therapeutic systems. In major parts of rural Africa, traditional healers prescribing medicinal plants are the most easily accessible and affordable health resource available to the local community and at times the only therapy that subsists. Coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) is an acute virus (SARs-coV-2) which has caused a global pandemic. This paper aims to emphasize the importance of herbal medicine as a possible alternative and effective immune system booster against coronavirus disease in Ogun state, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Ethnobotanical survey was carried out using 80 randomly selected respondents among the villagers, herbalists, herb sellers, traditional medical practitioners, students, community leaders, by oral interviews and semi-structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using frequency counts and percentages. Results: A total of 81 plant species from 35 families which were mostly represented by Euphorbiaceae, Moraceae, Apocynaceae and Rubiaceae, and 61 botanicals were used singly while 21 other botanicals were combination of two or more plants in a single herbal preparations reported in the study area are used for management and alternative therapy against ailments such as fever, cough, body pain, flu, cold and shortness of breath that are associated to symptoms of COVID-19. Conclusion: Herbal medicines provide an alternative therapy for boosting immunity system to help fight coronavirus. Traditional healers are still very relevant to African healthcare system.


Introduction
In Africa and other parts of the World, herbal medicines have been in forefront of primary health care system.Household preparations in the forms of infusion and decoction were used to treat common ailments.Herbs are taken on diet to diagnose, prevent or treat diseases locally.Based on the Ethno-botanical studies, several active compounds have been discovered from plants and are used directly as potential in the production of synthetic drugs [1].Due to the use and importance of African herbal plants, many developing countries intensified efforts on documentation of ethno-botanical data of herbal plants, as most traditional herbalists keep inadequate records and their information is passed on, mainly through verbal, from generation to generation [2].In Nigeria, indigenous population have been using herbal medicines for a long time for the treatment of many diseases [3].The novel coronavirus known as SARS-COV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) outbreak was recorded for the first time in Wuhan City and Hubei Province, China on December 8, 2019 [4].Generally, the statistics of symptoms of COVID-19 were fever in 83% to 98% of patients, dry cough in 76% to 82%, and fatigue in 11% to 44%.Other reported symptoms are sore throat, headache, diarrhoea and abdominal pain [4].The global outbreak of COVID-19 presents different challenges to develop and developing countries.Most developing countries have weak health system coupled with inadequate epidemic response capacity.So far, Nigeria has successfully dealt with individual cases, the country reported 54,905 recorded cases, 1,054 deaths and 42,922 discharged cases from coronavirus infection as of September 5 th , 2020 [5].In Nigeria, herbs are used to treat and manage infections and diseases as part of their tradition and custom.The indigenous knowledge could be inherited or learnt in traditional religion.The dependency on botanicals has been attributed to the availability of a diversity of medicinal plants in the lowland rain forest vegetation, presumed efficacy of herbal remedies in regimens with little or low side effect and affordability [4].COVID-19 is a viral infection, therefore, use of antiviral herbal medicines might be useful in its prevention and management.Considering COVID-19 infection symptomsfever, body pain, cough, flu, cold and shortness of breath, plants with antimalarial effect, cough remedy, analgesic properties and a plausible therapeutic effect in respiratory tract infections could be useful to prevent infection due to COVID-19 [6].The objective of this paper is to document ethnomedicinal plants in Ogun state that can be used to boost immunity thereby prevent the coronavirus infection.It's headquarter is Ota at 6°41'00''N 3°41'00''E to the north of the Area (Figure 1).It's an agrarian in nature, produces cash and food crops such as cocoa, kola, coffee, palm oil, nut, cassava, maize, timber and vegetables [8].

Collection of Information
Ethno-medicinal information was gathered from herbalists, herb sellers, villagers and other residents using semistructured questionnaire and oral interviews as described by Jovel et al, (1996) [7], Yusuf-Babatunde and Solaja (2019) [8].For the purpose of this study, Eighty (80) questionnaires were administered to respondents and they provided local names of the herbal plants being used to boost immunity against coronavirus infection.The questionnaire was divided into three sections: section one furnished demography data, section two was about awareness, prevention and treatment of coronavirus infection and section three dealt with plants/recipes used in the prevention and management of coronavirus infection.Botanical names of the plants were authenticated by comparison with appropriate voucher specimen at herbarium in Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FHI) Ibadan; (where herbarium specimens are kept) and by reference to standard botanical classifications and nomenclature [10,11].Identification was also confirmed at Herbarium of Faculty of Pharmacy, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Sagamu [11].The socio-economic characteristics of the respondents revealed 46 females and 34 males.Seventy-three percent of the respondent had primary to secondary formal education.The respondents were between 30 to 70 years old.Eighty-seven percent of the respondents were trade specialists (i.e., herbalists/herb sellers) and the rest did not have any specialized training in traditional medicine but claimed experience to ancestral traditions (Table 1).

Results and Discussion
The results of the survey of botanicals to boost immunity and prevent Coronavirus disease are presented and the plants are listed in Tables 1 and 2. Each plant is identified by a voucher specimen number, and pharmacognostic elements such as botanical name, common and local name, parts used, and method of preparation are provided.In this study area a total number of 31 botanicals belonging to 22 families were frequently used for the treatment of fever associated diseases (Table 2).The different families, largely represented by Euphorbiaceae (12.9%),Rubiaceae (9.68%), Maliaceae=Rutaceae=Compositae=Moraceae (6.45%).Leaves had the highest frequency of use (70.10%) followed by root (25.81%).Decoction is the most preferred method of preparation of the botanicals (67%), this is in agreement with the previous ethnomedicinal survey of (Adeyemi et al, (2010) [12].Most anti-fever herbal recipes were administered orally, and this is in agreement with previous survey results [13,14].However, the majority of the respondents (65%-72%) preferred herbal preparations to modern drugs for the treatment and prevention of fevers.Most of these herbal antifever recipes have been scientifically justified [15,16].According to the study of Igoli et al (2005) [17], some of these recipes were for combination therapy of more than one Against Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection kind of fever, anti-typhoid and anti-malarial herbal recipes were also reported in the survey conducted in the northern part of Nigeria.
To manage cough associated respiratory diseases, 17 locally used herbal plant species from 14 families were documented from the study area (Table 3).Cough remains common symptoms that made people to visit health center/hospital in developed countries [18].The studies on cough epidemiology are currently scanty in sub-Saharan Africa [19], but it's one of the conditions that are treated with African herbal plants [20][21][22], an example is a study of about 930 households sampled in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, cough ranked 5 th among the 10 diseases treated with herbal plants [23].In South Africa, cough is 2 nd to tuberculosis in which herbal plants are used to mitigate by herbalists [24].In other continents beyond Africa, herbal medicines are used for treating cough, such as India [25], Spain [26], Greece [27], and Yemen [28].There is continuous and widespread use of herbal plants for mitigating cough as a condition and as part of associated symptoms in many diseases affecting the respiratory system.
Herbs for respiratory tract infections: Myrianthus arboreus (Monkey fruit), Ficus exasperate (Sand paper), Spondias mombin (Yellow mombin), Garcinia kola (Bitter cola), Calotropis procera (apple of Sodom), Nymphaea lotus (White Lotus) and Abrus precatorius (Rosary pea) are used for the management and treatment of respiratory tract infections [30].An example is an infusion of bitter kola and garlic in clean water is used for the management of respiratory tract infections, and this conforms to previous survey results of Gbadamosi, (2019) [31].

Conclusion
This study documents the herbal plants used by indigenous population of Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria, to boost immunity against coronavirus (COVID-19) infection.
Herbal medicines provide an alternative therapy for the treatment and management of coronavirus and many diseases in the significant number of people, especially in the rural areas, therefore Nigerian Government should make policies on the preservation of indigenous knowledge, documentation of indigenous recipes, prevention of cultural loss and conservation of important plant species for research and medicine.Scientists should collaborate with indigenous people to promote drug discovery via production of herbal remedies, drug precursors, drug prototypes, and active compounds through research.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Areas in Ogun State, Nigeria Surveyed for the Use of Plant/Herbal Preparations to boost immunity against coronavirus.The study area covers Ota, Sango-Ota, Ado-Odo, Agbara, Iju-Ota, Itele, Igbesa, Owode-Ijako and Koko-Ebiye in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area in Ogun State, Nigeria.The ethnic composition is Yoruba with sub-groups of Awori, Yewa, Egba, Ijebu and Remo.Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area covers approximately 16,762 km 2 area with a total population of 3,751,140 residents from 2006 census [7].It borders Lagos State to the south, Ondo State to the east, Osun State to the north and Republic of Benin to the west (Figure 1).It was created in May 19, 1989, when Ota was merged with the defunct Ifo/Ota Local Government with Ado-Odo/Igbesa Areas of Yewa South Local Government and the second most populated Local Government in Ogun State.It's headquarter is Ota at 6°41'00''N 3°41'00''E to the

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Botanicals and Families of Medicinal Plants against symptoms associated with corronavirus.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Botanicals and Families of Medicinal Plants to boost immunity against Corronavirus.

Table 1 .
Demographic Characteristics of Respondents.

Table 2 .
List of Botanicals used to boost immunity against fever associated diseases in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State in Ogun State, Nigeria.

Table 3 .
List of Botanicals used to boost immunity against Cough associated with respiratory diseases in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria.

Table 4 .
Respondents knowledge on the synergistic effect on the combined use of plants to treat body pain, fatigue and loss of appetite in Ado-Odo/Ota LocalGovernment Area of Ogun State, Nigeria.

Table 4 .
Continued.Stem bark powdered of Anarcadium occidentale and Mangifera indica is mixed with the powdered leaves of Spondia mombin and given in pap and drink in abdominal pain and weaknesses.(b)Powderedleaves of the three is mixed with hot pap and drink against Runny or stuffy nose, Cough and Fever.2Hightemperature, lymph nodes may become swollen.Leaves extract is given to suppress high body temperature and body fatigue.
Leaves decoction of the four plants used to treat severe fatigue, abdominal pain, bloody stool, nosebleeds, weakness, muscle aches, frequent urination, excessive thirst, increased hunger, weight loss, tiredness.Leaves paste to heal wounds/cut.6Severefatigue,abdominal pain, bloody stool, nosebleeds, weakness, muscle aches Stem bark decoction on severe body fatigue, pains, body weakness and muscle aches.7 Itchy scalp, sore, patchy hair loss Dry Leaves and fruit decoction is used to treat Typhoid fever; Fruits juice applied on itchy scalp, sore and patchy hair loss.