On the use of plants and plant-derived compounds for the control of schistosomiasis.

The rising costs of chemotherapy and synthetic molluscides have led to an increasing interest in plants which are lethal to the intermediate host of schistosomiasis (bilharzia). Over one thousand species have been tested but only a few have been phytochemically examined. Approximately fifty molluscicidal compounds have so far been isolated from plants, including saponins, terpenoids, flavonoids, naphthoquinones and tannins. The saponins from Phytolacca dodecandra are the most active and have been successfully employed in field tests. The latest results in this area and the problems involved in the use of plants and natural products for the control of schistosomiasis are discussed here.