Medicinal potions used against infectious bowel diseases in Mayan traditional medicine

Aim of the studySince one of the main health problems of the indigenous population are infectious bowel diseases, we decided to test Mayan medicinal potions used to treat these conditions against some of the causal agents.Materials and methodsThirty-one herbal formulations used for the treatment of infectious bowel diseases were prepared according to the collected ethnobotanical data. Their activities were tested against some of the causal agents of diarrheic symptoms, such as Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella typhi and Shigella flexneri.ResultsNine formulations were active against bacteria (MIC = 0.5 mg/ml), four on Entamoeba histolytica, and seven on Giardia lamblia (IC50 ≤ 20 μg/ml).ConclusionsThis work supports the use of the traditional Mayan formulations against some infectious bowel diseases, and it is the first step towards their study.

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