Plantas medicinales empleadas en el núcleo familiar para tratar enfermedades relacionadas al COVID-19, en el cantón Atahualpa, provincia El Oro

Abstract

Abstract:The present study emphasizes the use of medicinal plants for the treatment of Covid-19 symptoms. Through semi-structured interviews applied in six parishes of the Atahualpa Canton, to a simple random sample, it was possible to gather information about the participants, their age, gender, education; as well as the uses, plants used, forms and modes of preparation of the same. The practices used, frequencies, level of fidelity and consensus among the informants were identified by means of ethnobotanical techniques. The existence of 40 species belonging to 24 botanical families, used for 19 medical treatments, obtained mainly in the central market of Atahualpa, was determined. The species with the greatest consensus for a specific ailment were Zingiber officinale, against sore throat (FL=56.8) and Eucalyptus globulus Labill, (FL=31.36) as an expectorant and for the common cold (FL=56.78%). The FIC ranges between 0.00 and 1.00, with a high and medium consensus for most of the registered uses provided by the interviewees, however, a significant difference is shown only between the informants from rural and urban areas regarding the uses of certain medicinal specie.