Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Estadual da Paraíba, Av, das Baraúnas, 351/Campus Universitário, Bodocongó, 58109-753, Campina Grande-PB, Brazil.
J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2009 Nov 26;5:37. doi: 10.1186/1746-4269-5-37.
Animal-based remedies constitute an integral part of Traditional Medicine and this is true in Brazil as well both in rural and urban areas of the country. Due to its long history, zootherapy has in fact become an integral part of folk medicine in the country. The use of these natural resources for medical purposes, however, is not restricted to human diseases treatment, being also widely used for the treatment of animal illnesses. Ethnoveterinary is a science that involves the popular practical knowledge used to treat and prevent animal diseases. This study documents ethnoveterinary practices in one local semi-arid region in Northeast Brazil and discusses the findings in the surveyed area.
Information was obtained through the use of semi-structured questionnaires. A total of 20 respondents (09 men and 11 women) provided information on animal species and body parts used as medicine, information concerning the illnesses to which the remedies were prescribed were also obtained.
Eleven animal species were used in the treatment of 11 diseases in the surveyed area. The species inventoried comprise 3 taxonomic categories: mammals (05), reptiles (04) and birds (02). The obtained results proves that the use of animals or their derived products as therapeutic resources to the treatment of animal diseases represent a common practice and is culturally important in the studied area. It is evident that the popular knowledge about the ethnoveterinary practices is, frequently, passed through generations. We also noticed that, besides the cultural aspects, the socio-economic context permeates the use of zootherapics, since these practices constitute an alternative to the medicines acquired in veterinarian pharmacies, which have a high cost.
动物制剂是传统医学的一个组成部分，在巴西，无论是在农村还是城市地区，这都是如此。由于其悠久的历史，动物疗法实际上已成为该国民间医学的一个组成部分。然而，这些自然资源不仅用于治疗人类疾病，也广泛用于治疗动物疾病。兽医民族医学是一门涉及用于治疗和预防动物疾病的大众实用知识的科学。本研究记录了巴西东北部一个局部半干旱地区的兽医民族医学实践，并讨论了该调查地区的发现。
通过使用半结构化问卷获得信息。共有 20 名受访者（9 名男性和 11 名女性）提供了有关用作药物的动物物种和身体部位的信息，还获得了有关规定这些疗法的疾病的信息。
在所调查的地区，有 11 种动物被用于治疗 11 种疾病。所鉴定的物种包括 3 个分类类群：哺乳动物（5 种）、爬行动物（4 种）和鸟类（2 种）。研究结果表明，使用动物或其衍生产品作为治疗动物疾病的治疗资源是一种常见做法，在研究地区具有文化重要性。显然，关于兽医民族医学实践的大众知识经常通过代际传承。我们还注意到，除了文化方面，社会经济背景也影响了动物疗法的使用，因为这些做法是兽医药店购买的药物的替代选择，而这些药物的成本很高。
