Antiamoebic, Antigiardial, and Cytotoxicity of Some Sudanese Plants

The World Health Organization ranks diarrheal disease as the second (after acute respiratory infections)most common cause of morbidity and mortality in children in the developing world. Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia lamblia are two of the most important and most widespread diarrhea-related parasitic protozoain the world. Metronidazole is used as a drug of choice against amoebiasis and giardiasis. We know that humans have used medicinal plants for several thousands of years to treat illness and health disorders. An alternative to synthetic drugs is the search for anti-parasitic plant extracts or secondary metabolites derived from them. Natural products still play an important role in therapy: between 1981 and 2006, 1,184 new drugs were registered of which 28% were natural products or their derivatives. Another 24% of the new drugs had pharmacophores (i.e., functional groups with pharmacological activity) derived from natural products.