Clinical data:

Chimpanzees in Africa eat plants from which the Enerjet compound is obtained in it's natural form when they are ill. (Note that this is not advised for human consumption.)

______________________________________

CNN HEALTH. June 9th 2000

Globalization: Key factor

Ideal conditions for virus spread

WASHINGTON (AP) - AIDS evolved from a benign simian virus infection into a human-killer in the early 1930s, long before it was recognized as a disease, but it stayed in remote Africa until jet travel, big cities and the sexual revolution spread it world wide, a new study suggests.

Researchers measuring the rates of genetic change in HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, found the current strains originated from a common ancestor that first evolved from a simian virus in southwest Africa between 1915 and 1941, with 1931 the most likely year.

“It could have been in humans even before that,” said Tanmoy Bhattachary, a researcher in Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The study appears Friday in the journal of Science.

Bhattachary said the most common form of HIV worldwide evolved from simian immunodeficiency virus, or SIV, that was in the Chimpanzee. SIV genetically converted to HIV either while it was in the chimp or after a human contracted SIV.

The disease did not become a worldwide menace, he said, until people left the isolated areas of Africa and carried the virus around the globe.

“It could have evolved in humans and stayed in a very small population, such as a village,” said Bhattachary. “That is typically what most diseases do. They are in an isolated population and then something happens and it starts spreading all over.”

The findings are consistent with earlier studies that suggested that HIV originated early in this century and then was spread when Africa became less isolated.

Bhattachary said the date when SIV first evolved to HIV makes it “very unlikely” that a polio vaccination campaign in the late 1950s can be blamed for the rise of AIDS. Some researchers have suggested that a polio vaccine made using chimpanzee kidney cells could have transferred HIV into humans between 1957 and 1960.

Although the new research could not that possibility entirely, Bhattachary said, the fact that HIV originated before the polio vaccine means “you can probably discount that scenario”

A type of AIDS virus called HIV2, which occurs mostly in Africa, may have originated from sooty mangabeys a type of African monkey, the study says.

But HIV1, the virus that has caused a pandemic, came from the chimpanzee, a primate more closely related to humans.

A form of HIV1 called group M is the major virus spreading throughout the world. It has infected about 50 million people and killed 16 million. Bhattachary said group M may have crossed over from chimp to humans only once, or evolved from SIV in only one patient.

“Our study shows that the M group had a single origin,” he said. “It could have come from one animal or from one human.”

Other forms of HIV, he said, had “multi-introductions.”

The most common form of HIV in the United States, called subgroup B, first evolved between 1960 and 1971, with 1967 being the most likely year, said Bhattachary.

Clinical symptoms of what later became known as AIDS were reported in the United States in the late 1970s. AIDS was formally diagnosed and named in 1981. The HIV virus was isolated and confirmed in 1983.

`Ideal' conditions for virus spread

John P. Moore, a microbiologist and AIDS researcher at Cornell University in New York, said the study by Bhattachary and his colleagues is “outstanding and significant. They have looked into this very carefully.”

Moore said the findings emphasize how science needs to be concerned and alert to the risks of cross-species viral transmissions, many of which are lethal or cause serious illness in humans.

Another researcher, Jim Moore of the University of California, San Diego, said the Los Alamos study is consistent with his findings that conditions in colonial Africa were ripe, starting in the late 19th century, for a new virus to take hold and spread.

Colonial powers forced people out of villages, causing many to live in the jungles, surviving by hunting and gathering, said Moore, who is unrelated to the Cornell scientist. A major food was meat from chimps and monkeys.

“This created conditions ideal for the transfer (of a virus) and to spread into small populations,” said Moore.

Later, he said, large work gangs were organized to build roads and mines, with some structure organizations promoting prostitution to keep the isolated workers content. HIV is a sexually transmitted disease.

In more recent decades, an age with easy transoceanic travel and the sexual revolution, millions of people have been in and out of Africa.

Moore said campaigns to vaccinate the African population against small pox and other diseases may even have helped HIV spread, saying, “They weren't using sterilized needles all the time.”

Further information:

"Margaret Blabey" <[email protected]>

[eforum] 'Bushmeat' and the origin of HIV/AIDS

Mon, 11 Mar 2002 12:07:43 -0500

The United Nations Foundation website - http://www.unfoundation.org/ is

featuring a U.S. Congressional briefing on the link between biodiversity

loss and human health. "'Bushmeat' and the Origin of HIV/AIDS: A Case

Study of Biodiversity, Population Pressures and Human Health" is

sponsored by the Center for Health and the Global Environment at

Harvard Medical School, Population Action International, the

Jane Goodall Institute, and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute.

http://www.unfoundation.org/spotlight/index.asp to review the briefing.

The diversity of life on Earth tends to be concentrated on land in some

twenty-five areas designated as "biodiversity hotspots." While making up

only 1.4 percent of the total land surface, these areas contain large

proportions of its species, for example, more than one-third of all

known mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Often, they are also

sites of high human population density and growth, and species in

these regions, therefore, may be particularly at risk.

This briefing focuses on one such hotspot - the West African Forests

region - and looks at the slaughter of chimpanzees, gorillas, and

other primates for "bushmeat" as an example of how species

may be endangered by human activity, and how the loss of our

closest relatives may have significantimplications for human

health, including the spread of HIV/AIDS.

For further information about this briefing, please contact Tracy Graham

of the Center for Health and the Global Environment (617-432-2164 or

http://www.med.harvard.edu/chge/biobrief.html), or Beth Bleil of EESI

(202-662-1885 or [email protected] )

Questions, concerns and comments can be sent to [email protected].

UN news and other submissions should be directed to

Source: PRB Africa Media listserv

IT MAY BE POSSIBLE THAT THE CHIMPANZEE IN AFRICA EAT SOME OF THE PLANTS FROM WHICH THE ENERJET COMPOUND IS OBTAINED TO TREAT VIRAL INFECTIONS AND TO ERADICATE THE "SIMIAN VIRUS" WHICH CAUSES HIV/AIDS IN HUMANS.

Anti-HIV/AIDS properties of the ENERJET compound:

HIV/AIDS virus infection

The spectrum of infections that affect HIV positive individuals, indicate a significant deficiency of CD4+ T-cell counts. Enerjet assists the HIV patient by means of assisting the body's natural defense mechanism and by STABILIZING the immune system, PROVIDE INCREASED DIGESTION OF VITAL ELEMENTS , THUS ENHANCING METABOLISM and through its antiviral activity. Furthermore, Enerjet assists in treating all of the opportunistic infections related to immune deficiencies and also HIV/AIDS related infections.

Significant viral load reduction has been observed from lab analyses of blood from persons using the Enerjet compound. SEE "RESEARCH" BELOW.

If one considers the variety of compounds found in Enerjet, and look at various molecular structures of the phytochemical substances individually, quite a lot are revealed: e.g.: Some known anti-viral compounds (including anti-HIV) have a close structural relationship to structures found in the Enerjet compound. E.g. Lupeol and other triterpenoid structures are similar to: BETULIN, which inhibits HIV replication after protein synthesis, and that is presently being investigated for vaccine use, BETULINIC ACID, is currently under investigation for a whole lot of medicinal applications, including vaccines, URSOLIC ACID, is used as a protease inhibitor, OLEANIC ACID, used for its protease inhibition properties, GLYCERRHIZIN (also found in licorice), which has reverse transcriptase properties, and which can be used to treat e.g. liver dysfunction and Herpes.

Other Medicinal Properties of the ENERJET Compound, which relates to HIV/AIDS viral infection:

The Enerjet compound is a rather complex structure and the various substances in Enerjet has different functions or activities. Some of the structures in the compound destroy parasites that are resident in the blood, and lymphocytes in the body. Others destroy parasites in the digestive system and others again, destroy parasites in the urinary tract, bladder, Prostate.

The increased metabolism which is one of the properties of the Enerjet compound can me attributed to healing of wounds, clearing of infections.

In addition to the above, the ENERJET compound also possesses anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties and assists the HIV/AIDS sufferer with various recurrent infections.

The active ingredients in the Enerjet compound, which destroy parasites appears to have no adverse effect on man or animal. Results were observed from lab analyses obtained over a period of more than three years. No adverse reactions were reported or observed from any user of this compound.

Enerjet and CD8+ Antigens:

It appears that there was an expansion within the (CD8+) subsets, of CD57+ and/or CD62L(-)CD45RA. This may have resulted in or served as a co-factor, or helped prevent cell death. Similar characteristics can be observed from Interleukin-2 treatment. (See published study data in the section which explains CD8+ and its significance in the chapter which explains the CD8+ as well as how it works, below)

According to scientists at international labs, further studies would depend on resourses and skills available. If they are able to do flow cytometry, which is a good measure, staining for CD62L, CD45RA and CD4 and CD8, since this will give an idea of the number of naive T cells. Also measure CD38 and HLA DR. CD57 is probably less useful since it is not completely understood. If resources are available, one could also look at cytokine production to HIV infected cells by flow cytometry. Probably only for experienced international labs such as e.g. some labs in The USA, UK, and other European Countries.

ENERJET COMPOUND: REAL SIGNIFICANT INCREASED METABOLISM LEVELS AND IMMUNE STABILIZING, INCLUDING STRONG ANTIVIRAL PROPERTIES OBSERVED:

Results from a 3-year clinical trial regarding HIV/AIDS indicated an increase in the CD8+ T-cell count, from 400 to over 3000 (within 14 days) where the norm of the CD8+ count was indicated as 400 - 1000. The CD4+ T-cell count initially increased, and remained stable at that level, which was also within the norm. The total lymphocyte counts seem to be linked to the CD8+, increasing and decreasing as the CD8+ would fluctuate. It appears the CD8+ count would increase as the dosage of this compound is increased. Once the patient stopped using the compound, the CD8+ count did not reduce to baseline or normal levels, but a steady decline can be observed. Up to now, this study patient's CD4+ and CD8+ counts has not fallen but seem to remain within the norm. The patient has been taken off the Enerjet compound since about a year now, and is not taking any other medication that may have affected these results. Viral destruction: Results from the above mentioned trial indicated a very significant viral load reduction, and the viral load at first increased significantly, and thereafter reduces. It is possible that the virus is flushed out of the organs etc., into the blood stream. Viral load reduced from 160 000 copies/ml HIV1 to below 500 within 3 months. The results and reaction of the compound could be similar to a combination therapy such as Interleukin-2-treatment. These results were not observed from other patients who were participating in the same trial, and who did not get the compound. No toxic or adverse reactions, allergies etc. were observed from lab analyses over 3 years.

Since using the Enerjet compound, this patient did not need to consult a doctor for any medical indication/complaint and no opportunistic infections have been recurring since. In addition to the above, toxicology tests have been executed in-vitro as well as in-vivo.

The in-vivo lab analyses and other tests were executed monthly over a period of 3 years.

Enerjet is safe to use in it's present form. No toxic effect has been observed from laboratory tests executed on the study subject.

No decline was observed re the activity of the Enerjet compound and it is found that the compound is as effective after being used for five years as what it is, when taken for the first time. It appears the HIV1 virus does not become resistant to the Enerjet compound after prolonged use.

No allergic reactions or any adverse side effects were observed or reported.

Preliminary in-vitro studies were undertaken at a major USA-based research agency.

CD8 antigens are members of the immunoglobulin supergene family and are associative recognition elements in MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex) Class I-restricted interactions. Elevated (CD8+) can inhibit HIV infection/replication.

However, there are basically two sides of the (CD8+) coin and this seem to be that:

1] (CD8+) T cells can produce anti-viral factors that inhibit HIV infection/replication (a good thing); and

2] activated CD8s increase in HIV+ patients, and may be harmful in some as yet unknown way. (Probably a bad thing). Possibly CD38 population increase within (CD8+)

Recent studies revealed:

PUBLISHED RESEARCH FINDINGS - REFERENCES RE (CD8+) AND HIV INFECTION

Ref.: AIDS 1999 May 28; 13(8):891-9

Expansion of CD57 and CD62L-CD45RA+ CD8 T Lymphocytes correlates with reduced viral plasma RNA after primary HIV infection.

Lieberman J, Trimble LA, Friedman RS, Lisziewicz J, Lori F, Shankar P, Jessen H

The Center for Blood Research, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

"OBJECTIVE: CD8 T cells, expressing cell surface molecules distinct from those on resting and naive T cells, are increased in HIV infection. The association of increased CD38 and human leukocyte antigen DR (HLA-DR) CD8 T cells with poor prognosis has suggested that activated CD8 T cells may aggravate HIV infection. We examined whether other immunological parameters might influence the viral setpoint. DESIGN: Peripheral T cells from nine untreated patients, obtained after primary HIV infection when plasma HIV had stabilized, were examined for proteins expressed in activated versus resting, memory virus naive, and cytotoxic versus non-cytotoxic T cells. METHODS: The proportion of CD8 T cells that stain for CD38 and HLA-DR, CD28 and CD57 was compared with plasma viraemia and CD4 cell count. These parameters were also compared with the proportion of CD4 and CD8 T cells that express CD62L and CD45RA, present on naive cells and down-modulated in memory cells. Internal staining for the cytotoxic protein granzyme A was also examined. RESULTS: An increase in CD38 and CD38 HLA-DR CD8 T cells correlated with increased plasma viral RNA (P<0.00002, P<0.03, respectively). An increase in CD8 T cells expressing granzyme A was associated with lower CD4 cell counts (P<0.04). However, the expansion of CD57 and CD62L CD45RA CD8 T cells was associated with a lower viral setpoint (P<0.01, P<0.02, respectively) CONCLUSION: Phenotypically defined activated CD8 T cells may have different functions in HIV infection. Activated CD8 T cells that are CD57 or CD62L(-)CD45RA+ may be beneficial, because their expansion in untreated patients correlates with a reduced viral setpoint after primary infection."

PMID: 10371169, IU: 99297579

J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 1999 Sep 1;22(1):31-8

Acute activation of CD8+ T lymphocytes in interleukin-2-treated HIV-infected patients. ANRS-048 IL-2 Study Group. Agence National de Recherches sur le SIDA.

Zouw W, Foussat A, Capitant C, Durand-Gasselin I, Bouchet L, Galanaud P, Levy Y, Emilie D

INSERM U131 and Service de Medecine Interne et d'Immunologie Clinique, Institut Paris-Sud sur les Cytokines, Hopital Antoine Beclere, Clamart, France.

"CD8+ T lymphocytes play a key role in the control of HIV infection, through both cytotoxic and noncytotoxic mechanisms. To study in vivo effects of interleukin-2 (IL-2) treatment on this cell compartment, the level of activation of CD8+ T lymphocytes was evaluated before and just after 5-day administration of IL-2 in 16 HIV-infected patients. The serum level of soluble CD25 and of soluble CD8 significantly increased following IL-2 administration. The number of mRNA molecules coding for perforin and granzyme B, two enzymes that are continued in granules of cytotoxic cells, also significantly increased in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and in purified CD8+ cells (P< .001). Variations of plasma HIV viremia and perforin gene expression following IL-2 administration were inversely correlated (p = .023), suggesting that IL-2 induced activation of CD8+ T lymphocytes contributes to limit HIV replication in vivo. In contrast to perforin and granzyme B gene expression of macrophage inhibitory protein-1alpha (MIP-1alpha), MIP-beta, and regulated-on-activation normal T-expressed and secreted (RANTES) genes. These findings indicate that CD8+ T lymphocytes in HIV-infected patients are acutely activated by IL-2 treatment, which may improve long-term control of HIV infection."

PMID: 10534144, UI: 20001711

1: J Virol 2001 May;75(10):4713-20

In vivo T-lymphocyte activation and transient reduction of viral replication in macaques infected with simian immunodeficiency virus.

Chen ZW, Shen Y, Zhou D, Simon M, Kou Z, Lee-Parritz D, Shen L, Sehgal P, Letvin NL.

Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. [email protected]

While it is well established that cellular activation can increase human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication in T lymphocytes, it is also clear that both activated CD8+ and CD4+ T lymphocytes mediate anti-HIV activity. To assess the relative importance of these contrary effects on HIV replication in vivo, we

evaluated the consequences of Mycobacterium bovis BCG and staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) inoculation in vivo in rhesus monkeys chronically infected with simian immunodeficiency virus of macaques (SIVmac). BCG inoculation induced as much as a 2.5-log reduction of plasma and intracellular SIV RNA in SIVmac-infected monkeys. This down-regulation of virus replication persisted as long as 4 weeks after BCG inoculation. Similarly, SEB injection resulted in up to a 3-log decrease in plasma and intracellular SIV RNA in SIVmac-infected macaques. Interestingly, the short-term reduction of viremia in these monkeys correlated with the peak in vivo production of SEB- and BCG-induced cytokine

responses. However, no long-term clinical benefit was observed in the SIVmac-infected macaques. These studies provide in vivo evidence that potent T-cell stimulation driven by antigens other than the virus itself can, under some circumstances, mediate short-term reduction of viremia in AIDS virus-infected individuals.

PMID: 11312343 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

1: J Virol 2001 May;75(9):4413-9

Restoration of anti-human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) responses in CD8+ T cells from late-stage patients on prolonged antiretroviral therapy by stimulation in vitro with HIV-1 protein-loaded dendritic cells.

Fan Z, Huang XL, Borowski L, Mellors JW, Rinaldo CR Jr.

Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Graduate School of Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA.

We demonstrate that dendritic cells loaded in vitro with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) protein-liposome complexes activate HLA class I-restricted anti-HIV-1 cytotoxic T-lymphocyte and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) responses in autologous CD8+ T cells from late-stage HIV-1-infected patients on prolonged combination drug therapy. Interleukin-12 enhanced this effect through an

interleukin-2- and IFN-gamma-mediated pathway. This suggests that dendritic cells from HIV-1-infected persons can be engineered to evoke stronger anti-HIV-1CD8+ T-cell reactivity as a strategy to augment antiretroviral therapy.

PMID: 11287592 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Literature on CD8+ T cells, particularly literature with respect to regulation of HIV infection and as a consequence of HIV infection. A few of many papers on the topic consider these possibilities and also cross-reference other works on CD8+ in HIV disease:

Gioregi et al. J. Infect. Dis. 1994; 170: 775-81. (And she has some later papers)

Pinto et al. Blood. 1998; 92: 3346-54.

A current paper published (about Feb. 1999) in an issue of N. Engl. J. Med. By Greenough, Sullivan and Desrosiers, in which infection with the nef-deleted virus resulted in an increase in, activated CD8s.

ANTIBACTERIAL and ANTI-PARASITIC and other medicinal Properties:

The published articles below relates to various findings by scientists and researchers in the field, studying the nature of animals and the medicines they take, findings of further investigation in this field.

Really Wild Remedies-

Medicinal Plant Use by Animals

by Jennifer A. Biser

Pausing only to wipe the feverish sweat from her brow, the WaTongwe woman finishes crushing a few leaves and stems a fellow tribe member brought her from the mujonso, or "bitter leaf," tree. She soaks them in a bowl of cold water while her stomach aches with a dull pain. Closing her eyes and grimacing in anticipation of the liquid's foul taste, she holds her nose and gulps down the bitter elixir, hoping this reliable remedy will rid her of the intestinal pain that's plagued her for days.

Nearby, in Tanzania's Mahale Mountains National Park, a lethargic chimpanzee suffering from diarrhea and malaise slowly pulls a young shoot off a small tree called Vernonia amygdalina. She peels away the shoot's bark and leaves with her teeth, and begins chewing on the succulent pith. Swallowing the juice, she spits out most of the fibers, then continues to chew and swallow a few more stalks for half an hour.

Recovered within 24 hours, both of these females resume business as usual. They were both suffering the effects of an intestinal parasite infection. And, in case you haven't guessed, they both ate from the same tree.

Back by popular demand, the revival of herbal medicine among industrialized nations is challenging the modern pharmacological market while captivating the interest of scientists in numerous fields. Tired, perhaps, of expensive, highly synthetic drugs, we look to traditional healers in faraway places to share their time-tested therapies. The majority of the world's population, in fact, still relies on traditional medicines to some degree for their basic health care. Some scientists feel this is a valid method of finding cures for certain diseases. Others believe we should head straight for the jungle and see what leafy remedies animals are munching on. After all, isn't it possible that people learned about self-healing by watching their wild neighbors? "The probability that animals may have something to teach us about the medicinal use of plants is quite high," says primatologist Michael Huffman at the Kyoto University of Japan. Actually, the idea's hardly been ignored. In fact, an entirely new field, sometimes called "zoopharmacognosy" (zoh-oh-farm-a-cog-na-see), has evolved from the onslaught of diverse research on self-medicative behavior in animals over the past two decades. Animal behaviorists, ecologists, pharmacologists, anthropologists, geochemists, and parasitologists have all contributed to this truly multi-faceted discipline.

Huffman is one of the pioneers of zoopharmacognosy, thanks to his observations in 1987 of an animal--the chimp described earlier--attempting to heal herself. Intrigued by her speedy recovery and curious about the cause of her illness, Huffman analyzed the chimp's dung and found the intestinal parasite Oesophagostomum stephanostomum to be the most likely explanation for her symptoms. What's more, he found lower levels of the worm in another female chimp's excretions 20 hours after she ate the bitter pith from a Vernonia tree. This prompted him to collaborate with researchers in Japan, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom to find out what, if anything, the plant contained that might have killed the worms.

Huffman and his colleagues made an important discovery: They isolated an entirely new class of compounds from the pith, one of which, vernonioside B1, was found to possess antiparasitic, antitumor, and antibacterial properties. What's more, the leaves contain high levels of a well-known class of poisonous compounds found only in minute amounts in the pith. While these substances are also antiparasitic, they are likely toxic to the chimps. Vernonia amygdalina is not a regular part of the chimpanzee diet, and when it is eaten, it's often in small amounts, by chimps that appear ill. For these reasons, Huffman believes that they consume the plant for its medicinal rather than nutritional benefits. His work was the first to verify illness in an animal that showed improvement after eating a known medicinal plant. Interestingly, Vernonia amygdalina has more than 25 known medicinal uses among the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, about half of them for intestinal and parasitic ailments. People have learned to use the pith, leaves, and roots, probably because the more toxic compounds have been selectively bred out of Vernonia that is cultivated in gardens.

Search for New Medicines Leads to Plants of the Apes

Los Angeles Times (LT) - TUESDAY October 17, 1989 Edition: Home Edition Page: 1 Pt. A Col. 5 Word Count: 827

Thomas H. Maugh II; Times Science Writer

In his UC Irvine laboratory, biochemist Eloy Rodriguez is analyzing plants, searching for new medications that might be effective against bacteria, viruses and perhaps even the AIDS virus.

Rodriguez is one of perhaps several hundred researchers around the world following a similar quest for new antibiotics and other medications from plants, but his research is unique in one aspect: The plants he is studying were selected by chimpanzees in Africa.

The plants were discovered by Harvard anthropologists who followed sick chimpanzees around in the bush and observed the plants they ate in an effort to heal themselves. Rodriguez and Harvard anthropologist Richard Wrangham believe that this is the first time animals have led researchers to potential new drugs.

So far, the researchers have identified 11 different plant species that make up what they call the "Pharmacopeia of the Apes."

Rodriguez has not yet found anything that might have pharmaceutical companies "jumping overboard to get it on the market," with the possible exception of a potential anti-AIDS drug. But he believes that many of the compounds and the plants themselves could prove useful for treating both humans and animals in Third World countries where parasitic and bacterial infections are endemic.

"But what really fascinates me is that this provides a lot of information about our early human diet," Rodriguez said. "It's a window into the past, our use of medicine from the natural world."

The identification of the new compounds began in 1971 when Wrangham, crouched in an African rain forest at dawn, watched a chimpanzee do something that struck him as unusual. The chimp carefully selected leaves from a bush, rolled them around in its mouth, then swallowed them.

"The leaves did not seem to provide food because the chimp didn't chew them," said Wrangham, who was working with noted behaviorist Jane Goodall at the time. "At first I thought that the leaves were a stimulant. Then I began to observe this behavior in apes who vomited and had diarrhea. The idea finally hit me that the chimps were taking medicine."

Wrangham has since found other medicinal plants used by chimps and apes in Uganda and Tanzania.

In one case, Wrangham and his students followed a small group of apes who were very sick. "They were lethargic and had diarrhea--they obviously just felt rotten," Rodriguez said, probably as a result of a parasite infection. "Apes are just loaded with parasites."

The anthropologists followed the apes for three or four days and found that they were eating the stalks and leaves of a plant called vernonia. "After three days, they were feeling a lot better and their stool samples were better," Rodriguez said. The researchers concluded that the animals were treating themselves with the plant.

Rodriguez has since isolated a chemical from vernonia that shows promise for treating intestinal parasites. From other plants, he has isolated a variety of other chemicals that may prove to be good antibiotics.

Rodriguez is not yet convinced that any of the chemicals he has found will benefit Western medicine. But, he said, "In my opinion, the more useful applications would be right there in the countries where the plants are. We're suggesting that people mix some of these plants into the foods they give to their animals. They lose billions of dollars worth of livestock every year to parasites" and the plants could help limit those losses.

Subsequent research has shown that primitive tribes in Africa use many of the same plants that the chimpanzees use, and for much the same purposes. The new research thus suggests that the knowledge about the plants' medicinal effects could have been passed down in both the human and animal lineages for millions of years.

KELMANSON and colleages, Research Center for Plant Growth and Development, School of Botany and Zoology, University of Natal Pietermaritzburg, Scottsville, South Africa screened plants used in traditional Zulu medicine for antibacterial activity.

Methods: Aqueous, methanolic and ethyl acetate extracts of 14 plants used for the treatment of ailments of an infectious nature were screened for antibacterial activity.

Results: Most of the activity detected was against gram-positive bacteria. Tuber bark extracts of Dioscorea sylvatica had activity against gram-negative Escherichia coli and extracts of Dioscorea dregeana, Cheilanthes viridis and Vernonia genus were active against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The highest antibacterial activity was found in extracts of C.viridis, D. dregeana, D. silvatica, Melianthus comosus and V. colorata. Generally, methanolic extracts showed higher antibacterial activity then aqueous and ethyl acetate extracts.

Conclusions: South African plants used in traditional Zulu medicine showed antibacterial activity against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria.

Kelmanson JE et al. Zulu medicinal plants with antibacterial activity. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 69(3): 241-6. Mar 2000.

Zoopharmacognosy is a new area of study concerned with animals' self-medicating behaviour. The findings speak for themselves.

Birds in the Amazonian forests eat toxic caterpillars to protect themselves against parasites. Chimpanzees eat Aspilia leaves containing anti-fungal, anti-viral and anti-parasitic compounds first thing each morning. A Tanzanian park ranger saw an ill chimpanzee who had lost her appetite chew shoots of the bitter Vernonia amygdalina plant. The plant is traditionally prescribed by herbal healers of several African tribes and has several anti-parasitic properties, including against amoebic dysentery, malaria, schistomiasis and leishmanaiasis. Pregnant elephant cows eat a particular species of plant a few days before giving birth and often local people use it to assist human deliveries. Navajo elders recall how bears instructed them to use a forest root against insects. Bears use the root - known as osha or bear root (Lingusticum) - spreading the juice on their body to ward off insects and swallowing it for treating stomach problems and parasites. Pharmacological analysis has revealed it contains compounds active against fungi and insects. Scientists hope that studying such animal behaviour will narrow down their search for useful plants.

Down to Earth, Vol 2, No 13

http://jinrui.zool.kyoto-u.ac.jp/CHIMPP/CHIMPP_Publ.html

Major publications of the C.H.I.M.P.P. Group between 1989-1996 (May 4, 1996)

Research Articles

Huffman, M. A. and M. Seifu, 1989. Observations on the illness and consumption of a medicinal plant Vernonia amygdalina by a wild chimpanzee in the Mahale Mountains, Tanzania. Primates 30(1): 51-63.

Ohigashi, H., Takagaki, T., K. Koshimizu, T. Nishida, M.A. Huffman, H. Takasaki, J. Jato, and D.N. Muanza, 1991. Biological activities of plant extracts from tropical Africa. African Study Monographs. 12(4): 201-210.

Ohigashi, H., M. Jisaka, T. Takagaki, H. Nozaki, T. Tada, M.A. Huffman, T. Nishida, M. Kaji, and K. Koshimizu. 1991. A bitter principle and a related steroid glucoside of Vernonia amygdalina, a possible medicinal plant for wild chimpanzees. Agricultural and Biological Chemistry. 55(4): 1201-1203.

Jisaka, M., M. Kawanaka, H. Sugiyama, K. Takegawa, M.A. Huffman, H. Ohigashi, and K. Koshimizu. 1992. Antischistosomal activities of sesquiterpene lactones and steroid glucosides from V. amygdalina, possibly used by wild chimpanzees against parasite-related disease. Bioscience, Biotechnology and Biochemistry. 56(5): 845-846.

Jisaka, M., H. Ohigashi, T. Takagaki, H. Nozaki, T. Tada, M. Hirota, R. Irie, M.A. Huffman, T. Nishida, M. Kaji, and K. Koshimizu. 1992. Bitter steroid glucosides, Vernoniosides A1, A2 and A3 and related B1 from a possible medicinal plant Vernonia amygdalina, used by wild chimpanzees. Tetrahedron, 48:625-632.

Ohigashi, H., M. Jisaka, T. Takagaki, K. Koshimizu, M.A. Huffman, T. Nishida, H. Takasaki, and M. Kaji, 1992. Possible medicinal plants used by wild chimpanzees, and their physiologically active compounds. Journal of African Studies. 39: 15-27. (in Japanese)

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