Medicinal Plants Preferences for the Treatment of COVID-19 Symptoms in Central and Eastern Anatolia

Year 2021, Volume: 21 Issue: 3, 196 - 207, 31.12.2021

Sefa Akbulut

https://doi.org/10.17475/kastorman.1048372

Cited By: 5

Abstract

Aim of study: This study aimed to determine the medicinal plant use preferences of herbalists’ customers against the COVID-19 symptoms during pandemic period.
Area of study: The study was carried out in nine provinces located in the Central and Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey and the herbalists selling medicinal plants.
Material and methods: Data on 35 plants from 373 customers and 49 herbalists were collected between April 2020 and December 2020. Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC) and Fidelity Level (FL) quantitative indices were used to measure the use, cultural significance, and specificity of plants.
Main results: The highest RFC was found for Thymus spp. (0.59). It was followed by Ceratonia siliqua L. (0.56), Zingiber officinale Roscoe (0.56), and Mentha pulegium L. (0.50), respectively. The plants in the study area with a high FL were Zingiber officinale (84.83%) for cough, Thymus spp. (80.95%) for fever, Mentha pulegium (76.47%) for nausea-vomiting. Sambucus nigra L., Echinacea angustifolia DC., and Thymus spp. were the plants whose sales/demand increased the most during the pandemic period.
Highlights: It was understood that there was a significant increase in the sales of species such as Sambucus nigra, Echinacea angustifolia, and Thymus spp., during the pandemic period. This situation showed that there was a consensus among the public that these plants were effective against COVID-19 symptoms

Keywords

Medicinal Plants, Herbalist, Customers, COVID-19, Symptoms, Turkey

Orta ve Doğu Anadolu'da COVID-19 Semptomlarının Tedavisi için Şifalı Bitkiler Tercihleri

Abstract

Çalışmanın amacı: Bu çalışma, pandemi/COVID-19 döneminde aktar müşterilerinin hastalık belirtilerine karşı tıbbi bitki kullanım tercihlerini belirlemeyi amaçlamaktadır.
Çalışma alanı: Çalışma, Türkiye'nin İç ve Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi'nde yer alan dokuz ilde ve tıbbi-aromatik bitki satan aktarlarda gerçekleştirilmiştir.
Materyal ve Yöntem: Nisan-Aralık 2020 döneminde toplam 373 müşteri ve 49 aktar ile yüz yüze anket uygulaması yapılmış ve 35 bitki hakkında veriler toplanmıştır. Kullanılan bitkilerin önemini, kullanım sıklığını ölçmek için Göreceli Atıf Sıklığı (RFC) ve Aslına Uygunluk Düzeyi (FL) gibi kantitatif indisler kullanılmıştır.
Temel Sonuçlar: En yüksek RFC, Thymus spp. için bulunmuştur (0.59). Bunu sırasıyla Ceratonia siliqua L. (0.56), Zingiber officinale Roscoe (0.56) ve Mentha pulegium L. (0.50) izlemiştir. Çalışma alanındaki yüksek FL'ye sahip bitkiler öksürük için Zingiber officinale (84.83%), ateş için Thymus spp. (80.95%), bulantı-kusma için Mentha pulegium (76.47%)’dur. Sambucus nigra L., Echinacea angustifolia DC. ve Thymus spp. pandemi döneminde satışları/talebi en çok artan bitkiler olarak belirlenmiştir.
Araştırma Vurguları: Pandemi döneminde Sambucus nigra, Echinacea angustifolia ve Thymus spp. gibi türlerin satışlarında önemli bir artış olduğu anlaşılmıştır. Bu durum, bitkilerin COVID-19 semptomlarına karşı etkili olduğu konusunda halk arasında bir fikir birliği olduğunu göstermektedir.

Keywords

Şifalı Bitkiler, Aktar, Müşteri, COVID-19, Semptom, Türkiye

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