Kenya is in the race to find cure for covid 19.
Below are names of the local herb that is undergoing research as a possible preventive and curative medicine against COVID-19 at KEMRI for their zudapex herbal product.
Murigamuriga /Mtandamboo – Kiswahili
Tamurekiat /Legetetwe – kalenjin
Maasai – Lamuriaki
Luo – ochuoga
Gikuyu – Ngawa
It is available in powder form packed in 250-gramme containers.
The prescription for herpes simplex is a teaspoonful of Zedupex powder in a cup of boiled water.
“It is one of the herbal products with antiviral properties we are testing for efficacy. But it is definitely safe and that’s the most important,” Dr Festus Tolo, one of the researchers behind the drug, said.
The trials are being done at Kemri’s city laboratory. The drug, which is a Kemri’s intellectual property, has not been administered on any coronavirus patient yet.
Dr Tolo said it is too early to speak about the drug’s efficacy against Covid-19.
Both herbal and traditional medicines of plant origin have, according to Tolo, provided templates for synthetic drugs and will play a role in the search for Covid-19 treatment.
“For instance, the oldest malaria treatment, quinine, was developed from a tree extract before it was synthesised,” added Dr Tolo.
Kenya is not the only country exploring the treatment of the disease with herbal products.
Chinese scientists are investigating the Japanese knotweed, scientifically known as polygonum cuspidatum .
The Chinese use the weed to treat various conditions including pneumonia. It is listed by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature as one of the world’s 100 worst invasive species. While madagascar have already rolled out a herbal remedy for covid 19.
Tolo cautioned Kenyans against rushing to unproven herbal products for treatment..
In the meantime stay safe, stay home, sanitize, wear masks and keep social distance
