Medicinal Plants With Antileishmanial Properties: A Review Study

Leishmaniasis is an infectious disease caused by various species of the Leishmania parasites. An effective vaccine or drug to prevent the infestation or a suitable medication to cure the disease without side effects has not been provided yet. 

The use of medicinal herbs in the treatment of many diseases, especially parasitic ones, dates back to prehistoric times. This article is a review study on these herbs used for the treatment of leishmaniasis. 

In this regard, we searched PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases. We prepared this review on the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis with medicinal plants because of the prevalence of this disease, chemical drugs’ failure to fully control it, increase in the number of reports on drug resistance, and contradictory research on the side effects of synthetic drugs. 

In general, the use of medicinal herbs for the treatment of various diseases has a long history. Because of Iran’s diverse climate and flora, we have the potential to identify the active herbal ingredients in different indigenous plants of the country and extract them to produce them on an industrial scale. 

In this article, several herbs used to treat cutaneous leishmaniasis from the past to today in Iran and other countries are studied and evaluated.