A Comparative Analysis of Medicinal Plants used by Three Tribes of Chittagong Hill Tracts Region, Bangladesh to Treat Leukorrhea

Abstract

Leukorrhea is the flow of whitish, yellowish or greenish discharge from the vagina of a female, which can happen under normal conditions as well as bacterial or fungal infections. Such discharges may originate from the vagina, ovaries, fallopian tubes, or, most commonly, the cervix. In our ongoing ethnomedicinal surveys among the various tribes and regions of Bangladesh, it was observed that leukorrhea due to infections were common among the tribal women as evidenced by the number of plants used by the tribal medicinal practitioners to treat this infective condition. The objective of the present survey was to learn more about the medicinal plants used for treatment of leukorrhea by the tribal medicinal practitioners of the Chakma, Murong and Tonchonga tribes. All three tribes reside in the southeastern forested region of Bangladesh known as the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Informed consent was obtained from the tribal medicinal practitioners and interviews were conducted with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire and the guided field-walk method. It was observed that the tribal medicinal practitioners of the Chakma, Murong, and Tonchonga tribes used 13 plant species distributed into 12 families for treatment of leukorrhea. Roots constituted the major plant part used (53.3%), followed by leaves (20.0%), bark (13.3%), and whole plant and stem (6.7% each). The Kavirajes did not distinguish whether the leukorrhea originated from bacterial or fungal infections of the vagina or was due to other complications of the ovary, fallopian tube or cervix. In general, any sign of especially whitish discharge from the vagina of females was treated as leukorrhea and medications prescribed accordingly. Since the tribal population in their densely forested abodes lack access to modern medicinal facilities, the medicinal plants can form a primary mode of health-care for treatment of this occasionally infective medical condition in females.