Indigenous Snake Bite Remedies of the Luo of Western Kenya
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Date
2005Author
Owuor, BO.
Mulemi, BA.
Kokwaro, JO.
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Medicinal plants have been overtaken in the treatment of snake
bites by serum therapy and are rarely considered efficacious remedies in biomedicine. Nevertheless, rural inhabitants rely on plant medical material and the attention of highly regarded local traditional healers when threatened by snakebite
poisoning. This paper examines curative and preventive snakebite treatments, beliefs and practices collected from 100 Luo respondents. The informants reported
the use of a number of herbal and non-herbal remedies including mystical therapies and 24 herbaceous plants whose aerial parts are preferred. Treatments involve cut, suck, and bind methods followed by application of plant leaf and root
poultices held in place with strips of cloth or bark
URI
http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.2993/0278-0771%282005%2925%5B129%3AISBROT %5D2.0.CO%3B2http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/23326
Citation
Journal of Ethnobiology, 25(1):129-141. 2005.Publisher
Society of Ethnobiology Catholic University of Eastern Africa University of Nairobi, Kenya