Kenyan scientists have been challenged to research on some indigenous medicinal trees and herbs since they could be the answer for the deadly Coronavirus that is spreading like bushfire the world over.
An environmentalist Peter Wamui Munyaka strongly believes scientific investigations into the efficacy of cloton megalocarpus (mukinduri), pistacia aethiopica (muheheti), cordia Africana ( Muringa), Prunus Africana (Muiri), and aloe vera ( mugwa nugu) and anjuga rimota ( Wanjiru wa rurii) herbs could unearth the cure for Covid-19 that has claimed over 497,000 lives worldwide as of Sunday, June, 28, 2020.
Wamui said such indigenous trees have been used by different communities in Kenya and Africa at large to cure myriad diseases including malaria, pneumonia and liver and kidney problems.
Wamui added since Covid-19 is a respiratory disease scientists should particularly narrow their analysis of indigenous trees said to cure pneumonia and other chest problems among them pistacia aethiopica, cloton megalocarpus, cordia Africana and Podocarpus Falcatus (muthengera)
Speaking to KNA at his farm in Mbari ya Nguura village in Mukurwe-ini, Nyeri County recently, Wamui further suggested that ginger, garlic, lemon, pawpaw leaves and custard apple (the heart fruit) also be subjected to scientific tests as they had numerous medicinal benefits.
And to give credence to Wamui’s sentiments, former JKUAT Vice Chancellor Professor Nick Wanjohi had once described Erytherina Tormentosa as a wonder tree revealing that Muhuti as it is known in Kikuyu in is a power bank of medicines.
Muhuti is believed to cure among other ailments liver and kidney problems and according to a renowned cardiologist Dr. Dan Gikonyo, the two organs are highly damaged by coronavirus.
Dr. Gikonyo, the founder of Karen hospital recently explained that coronavirus first affects the lungs and then spreads to other vital organs.
Wamui’s sentiments comes at a time when Kenyan scientists have embarked on testing Ajuga Remota (Wanjiru wa rurii) to establish whether it could provide the elusive cure for Covid-19.
Two weeks ago researchers from the Institute of Primate Research (IPR) told a Kenyan daily newspaper that the herb would first be tested on monkeys before being administered to people.
The newspaper reported that the institute, the largest such facility in Africa, will use some of its 250 monkeys for the research.
