Mahomoodally Mohamad Fawzi, Muthoorah Luviksha Drushilla
Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius.
Asian Pac J Trop Biomed. 2014 May;4(Suppl 1):S387-99. doi: 10.12980/APJTB.4.2014C775.
To collect, preserve and document primary ethnopharmacological information on common natural remedies (NRs) used by the Chinese community to treat and/or manage common diseases in Mauritius, a tropical multicultural island in the Indian Ocean.
Face-to-face interviews were carried out with 52 key Chinese informants using a semi-structured questionnaire. Quantitative ethnobotanical indices, namely, the informant consensus factor (FIC), the use value, the fidelity level, the index of agreement on remedies and the relative importance were calculated.
Plants (61) and animal species (17), belonging to 43 and 9 families respectively, constituted the exploited flora and fauna by the Chinese community. Based on the FIC the main categories of plants used were employed against injury and poisons due to external causes (FIC=0.97), diseases of the respiratory system (FIC=0.96), diseases of the eye and adnexa (FIC=0.95), undefined pains or illness (FIC=0.95), diseases during the postpartum period, diseases of the digestive system and diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (FIC=0.94 each). For zootherapy, diseases of the circulatory system, diseases of the eye and adnexa, diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue and endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases had total consensus (FIC=1.00).
It was found that the Chinese community of Mauritius still relies, to a great extent, on NRs which need to be preserved and used sustainably. Nonetheless, further research is needed to probe the possible active constituents that could be the basis of an evidence-based investigation to discover new drugs.
收集、保存并记录毛里求斯华裔社区用于治疗和/或管理常见疾病的常见天然药物（NRs）的原始民族药理学信息。毛里求斯是印度洋上一个热带多元文化岛屿。
使用半结构化问卷对52名关键华裔信息提供者进行面对面访谈。计算了定量民族植物学指标，即信息提供者共识因子（FIC）、使用价值、保真度水平、药物一致性指数和相对重要性。
植物（61种）和动物物种（17种）分别属于43个和9个科，构成了华裔社区所利用的动植物群。根据FIC，使用的主要植物类别用于治疗外部原因导致的损伤和中毒（FIC = 0.97）、呼吸系统疾病（FIC = 0.96）、眼及附属器疾病（FIC = 0.95）、不明疼痛或疾病（FIC = 0.95）、产后疾病、消化系统疾病以及皮肤和皮下组织疾病（均为FIC = 0.94）。对于动物疗法，循环系统疾病、眼及附属器疾病、皮肤和皮下组织疾病以及内分泌、营养和代谢疾病达成了完全共识（FIC = 1.00）。
发现毛里求斯的华裔社区在很大程度上仍然依赖天然药物，这些药物需要得到保护并可持续利用。尽管如此，仍需要进一步研究以探索可能的活性成分，这些成分可为发现新药的循证研究提供基础。
