Abstract

MEDICINAL HERBS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF PNEUMONIA: A REVIEW

Shivani Rana*, Sunil Dutt and Maninderjeet Kaur

ABSTRACT

Pneumonia is one of the most common respiratory health issues and a significant cause of mortality and morbidity throughout the world. It is marked by the inflammation of lungs that arises due to the accumulation of pus in the alveoli and bronchioles. The use of medicinal herbs for the treatment of several health conditions like pneumonia has been reported from times of our ancestors. In present time period a lot of population moving towards the herbal medicines due to their lesser side effects and cost effectiveness as compared to the allopathic medicines. In this review the data of more than 150 ethno pharmacologically active medicinal herbs effective against pneumonia was collected and presented in a systematic manner indicating herb’s botanical or scientific name, family, common name, part used and folk use in a tabulated form. The description of some herbs is also given that are scientifically proven to be effective against several causative organisms of pneumonia. The current review might be helpful for the development of new medicines of natural origin for the treatment of pneumonia.

Keywords: pneumonia, alveoli, bronchioles, medicinal herbs, ethno-pharmacology, allopathic medicines.