Plants against malarial and typhoid fever

Abstract

Malaria and typhoid fever are life-threatening infectious diseases usually detected in regions, where sanitary conditions are inadequate putting a high proportion of the world’s population at high risk. Plasmodium parasites cause malaria, while typhoid fever is of a bacterial origin caused by Salmonella typhi. The World Health Organization estimated more than 200 million malaria cases around the world in 2018 and above 10 million cases of typhoid every year. Due to multi-drug resistance and the absence of homogenous supply, the conventional drugs for treating these diseases became ineffective and non-available during natural disasters and military conflicts. Therefore, in the last few decades, fundamental researches have been conducted to explore and document the in vivo and in vitro antimalarial and anti-typhoid activities of many traditional plants and their constituents. In our chapter, we would have an overview of the most effective plants derived from different traditional medicines worldwide and their phytoconstituents responsible for such activities.