Uso de plantas medicinais no controle da febre Chikungunya: uma revisão integrativa

Abstract

Chikungunya fever is an arbovirus caused by the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) that has a worldwide distribution, and its main characteristic is chronic arthritis. This complication is limiting and affects a large percentage of infected patients. Due to the lack of specific medicines for the disease, patients in search of relief turn to the use of medicinal plants, which are shown to be an alternative in the search for new therapeutic paths for the treatment of this disease. OBJECTIVES: The study sought to investigate the main information in the scientific literature on the use of medicinal plants to control Chikungunya fever, paying attention to the species used and isolated substances that demonstrate antiviral action or to control symptoms. METHODOLOGY: An integrative review of the literature was carried out, based on PubMED, the Virtual Health Library and EMBASE, using “Plants”, “Medicinal plants”, “Chikungunya” and “Chikungunya fever” as descriptors, as well as the same in Portuguese. Articles published from 2015 and written in Portuguese and English were considered. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Initially, 523 articles were found, which after applying the exclusion criteria and thorough analysis of the texts, were reduced to 18 final articles to compose the present, identifying 26 species of medicinal plants that have antiviral action against CHIKV, of these species, nine were also studied for the substances responsible for this action, identifying compounds such as alkaloids and phenolic compounds, substances that have known antiviral action. Two preparations based on medicinal plants reported in traditional medicine were also evaluated. CONCLUSION: Through the research, it was possible to find several studies that were based on the use of medicinal plants as an alternative for the treatment of Chikungunya fever. Studies that are based on popular knowledge, traditional medicine, show how important ethnopharmacological studies are in the search for new ways to treat diseases such as Chikungunya fever.