A recent study published in the journal PLOS ONE has established the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of four plants consumed by wild gorillas in the western lowlands of Gabon as part of self-medication behaviors. These plants could represent a serious avenue for new treatments to explore in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.
Antimicrobial resistance (antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, antiparasitics) is a global public health problem that WHO ranks among the 10 greatest health threats we face. Yet the development of new antimicrobials has not made significant progress for years. According to Dr. Leresche Even Doneilly Oyaba Yinda, from the Interdisciplinary Center for Medical Research in Franceville, Gabon, zoopharmacognosy (or the study of self-medication behaviors in animals) represents a promising alternative approach to finding new antimicrobial treatments (also includes antibiotic resistance).
And for good reason, he and his colleagues have just published on September 11, 2024 the promising results of a study that they conducted in three stages: first by observing wild gorillas in the Moukalaba-Doudou National Park in Gabon, then by surveying the local population, and finally by analyzing a selection of plants in the laboratory.
Gorillas who are fans of herbal medicine…
Since the observed gorillas are essentially frugivorous, their regular consumption of the bark of certain plants attracted the attention of the researchers. In addition, they noticed that these gorillas did not present infectious symptoms while they host potentially pathogenic enterobacteria, multiresistant to known antimicrobials, such as MDR Escherichia coli (MDR E. coli). The researchers then hypothesized that this would be a self-medication behavior and that the plants selected by the gorillas would have antimicrobial properties.
Self-medication in animals, and in particular great apes, is well known and has been observed for several years, notably in orangutans, white-handed gibbons and chimpanzees.
A local traditional medicine aligned…
As part of this same study, Dr. Ler’s team[…]
- sciencesetavenir.fr
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