Application of indigenous medicine

• Traditional medicine


  Plant and animal-based therapies and spiritual practices
• Up to 80% of people in African and Asian countries rely on traditional medicine for basic healthcare needs
• Practitioners in South Africa

  • Herbalists who use plants for remedies
  • Diviners who communicate with ancestral spirits to diagnose ailments
• Plant use in African medicine

  • Traditional healers in Africa utilize around 4 000 plants for remedies, including treatments for conditions like cancer
• Due to high costs


  There's increased research into traditional African remedies
• Efforts are made to integrate traditional medicine into the healthcare system
• Modern medicine


  Informed by medical research, and medical research is based on the scientific method. Therefore these therapies are based on investigations that produce reproducible results
• Modern biotechnology


  • Immunity and vaccines
  • Antibiotics
  • Blood transfusions
  • Cloning
  • Stem cell research
• Immunity


  The body's resistance to infection by bacteria, viruses and other pathogens
• Mechanisms of immunity


  • Physical barriers (skin, saliva, tears, mucus, cilia)
  • Chemical barriers (allergic responses, inflammation, eosinophils)
  • Cellular mechanisms (neutrophils, macrophages, phagocytosis)
• Adaptive immune system


  Remembers specific pathogens based on their antigens, and mounts an antigen-specific response to destroy the infectious agent
• Vaccines


  Contain non-toxic components of pathogens to elicit an immune response, producing memory T-cells for rapid and effective response to repeat infections
• Antibiotics


  Halt the growth of disease-causing bacteria, initially derived from organisms like fungi but now chemically synthesized, administered via injections, tablets, syrups, or suspensions
• Blood transfusions


  • Crucial to save lives after significant blood loss from accidents or surgery
  • Require blood typing to ensure compatibility between donor and recipient based on presence of antigens on red blood cells
  • There are four main blood groups (A, B, AB, O) and the Rhesus factor must also be determined
• Cloning


  The process by which a genetically identical copy of an organism is produced, including gene cloning, reproductive cloning, and therapeutic cloning
• Types of cloning


  • Gene cloning (cloning small DNA regions)
  • Reproductive cloning (cloning whole organisms or cells)
  • Therapeutic cloning (producing stem cells for tissue replacement)
• Stem cells


  • Present in all multicellular organisms, can differentiate into any cell type (e.g. red blood cells, nerve cells)
  • Two main types: embryonic stem cells (can specialize into any cell type) and adult stem cells (have certain differentiation limitations)
• Embryo creation for stem cell research

  1. In vitro fertilization methods used

  2. Multiple embryos generated

  3. Unused embryos can be frozen, stored or destroyed
• Potential medical applications of stem cells

  • Spinal cord injury: Repair of damaged nerve tissue after paralysis
  • Brain damage: Replacement or regeneration of neurons in degenerative conditions like Parkinson's or after a stroke
  • Cancer: Creating new cells to replace cancer cells, e.g. bone marrow transplants for leukaemia
  • Burn treatment: New skin cells matched to the recipient, grafted onto burn victims
• Science in cloning sparks debate and controversy, with central concerns about whether cloning methods produce cells capable of forming full organisms
• Ethical questions around cloning

  • Disposition of unused fused cells (embryos) not used for therapy or reproduction
  • Potential bias in gene selection for cloning
  • Concerns over private companies' control of cloning research
  • Rights of cloned human embryos if alive
  • Consideration of alternative methods to stem cell research
• Legislation around stem cell research

  • Europe: Some countries allow, others prohibit
  • USA: Divided opinions, some states fund, others don't
  • Supportive countries: India, Iran, South Korea, China, Australia
  • South Africa: Remains supportive
• Reproductive cloning of animals

  • Potential benefits in agriculture and medicine, e.g. overproduction of proteins crucial for human health
  • Most cloned animals fail to develop into healthy individuals, with significant health issues like increased birth size and organ defects
• Ethical issues in modern biotechnology in medicine

  • Promising applications: Production of medicines, pharmacogenomics, genetic testing/screening for diseases
  • Prenatal genetic testing techniques like amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling to detect conditions like Down syndrome in developing fetuses