Medicinal Plants in the Evolution of Therapeutics―a Case of Applied Ethnopharmacology

Contents 1. Introduction 2. Medicinal plants in the evolution of biomedicine 2.1. Medicinal plants as landmarks in medical history 2.1.1. Ancient times 2.1.2. Arabic and Greek legacies 2.1.3. Last century of the second millennium legacy 2.2. Medicinal plants as sources of prototypic agents 3. Disease control in a cross-cultural context: A case of applied ethnopharmacology to common intestinal parasitism 3.1. Knowledge accumulated by American peoples in the treatment of worms 3.2. Ethnopharmacology applied to intestinal worms. A Cost-effectiveness study for community control of ascariasis comparing herbal and pharmaceutical treatments in Ecuador 4. Materials and Methods 4.1. Study design 4.2. Evaluation of effectiveness of treatments 5.8. Cost/effectiveness analysis 6. Discussion: Health, sustainable development and socioeconomic aspects of treating the most common parasitic disease in the world 6.1. Multidisciplinary approach 6.2. Importance of ecological preservation and human security 6.3. Limitations of this study 7. Recommendations for further research 8. Policy implications Glossary Bibliography Biographical Sketch