Plants used to treat malaria by people from the neighboring basins Platinum and Brazilian Amazon

Medicinal plants help in the therapy of neglected diseases such as malaria, affecting mostly poor people. The mosquito vectors multiply in the tropics in margins of lakes, rivers and between vegetation. Malaria challenges the effectiveness of the public health service. Prevention is accomplished through the application of measures of biological, physical and chemical control. The use of bioactive plants can help in the fight against mosquitoes and treat disease. This study presents plants used to treat malaria by people from the neighboring basins Amazon (A), Platinum (P) and transition zone (AP = T). Municipalities were visited (21) in the southwest of Mato Grosso (Brazil, 2005) to collect data through interviews with informants (63) with expertise in the topic as indicated by the local community. Respondents were asked what were the most important medicinal plants and which purpose they served. Among the target municipalities (A: 4, PA: 3, P: 14), malaria was cited as a distressing disease in 8 of them (A:Comodoro, Vila BS Trindade; T: Vale S Domingos; P:Figueirópolis-Oeste, Glória-Oeste, Lambari-Oeste, Porto Estrela). Ten informants (A: 4, AP: 1, P: 5) indicated the use of 13 plant species (A: 5, AP: 2, P: 7) for malaria: “Caçau” (Aristolochia triangularis), “Cipó-mil-homens” (Aristolochia esperanzae); “Cordão-de-frade” (Leonotis nepetifolia), “Macaé” (Leonurus japonicus), “Cordão-São-Francisco” (Leucas martinicensis), “Esponja” (Luffa acutangula), “Fedegoso” (Senna occidentalis), “Fruta-galinha” (Acnistus arborescens), “Negramina” (Siparuna guianensis), “Melão-São Caetano” (Momordica charantia), “Erva d'anta” (Psychotria laciniata), “Erva d'cágado” (Corchorus hirtus), “Vassourinha” (Scoparia dulcis). Plants with more and fewer studies associated with malaria, available online in April 2013, are M. charantia and P. laciniata. We suggest further studies on these species' usefulness against malaria.