It's called Covid-Organics and it's a supposed mugwort-based natural remedy that, according to its promoters, is effective in fighting the coronavirus. Created by a research center in Madagascar, a dozen African countries, including Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Tanzania, Senegal, the two Congos and the Central African Republic, are already receiving the first batches of this product that is presented as a bottled tea, to start using it among its population. The commotion has been such that the World Health Organization (WHO) has requested that clinical trials be done and the African Union (AU) has asked the Malagasy government for details.
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The plant in question is Artemisia annua, one of the multiple varieties of mugwort, which is commonly called sweet wormwood and comes from Asia. From it is extracted the active principle of artemisinin, identified in the late sixties by the Chinese scientist Tu Youyou, Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2015, which is widely used to combat malaria. The WHO recommends its use in combined treatments against malaria, especially after the emergence of forms of resistance to artemisinin in Southeast Asia.
Experts have expressed concern. "It is extremely dangerous. Artemisinin is very fast and effective against malaria. As it is so valuable, its use in combined treatments is recommended precisely to prevent resistance from being generated, which has happened with other molecules such as chloroquine, ”says Carlos Chaccour, a specialist malaria researcher at the Barcelona Institute of Global Health, who adds that “not only is there no evidence that this infusion works, but if you start to distribute it uncontrollably in a place like Africa where there is a very high prevalence of malaria, you can generate resistance and take away the best molecule we have. That represents many deaths. "
AFRICAN UNION IN DISCUSSIONS WITH MADAGASCAR OVER HERBAL REMEDYhttps: //t.co/zpQwHZy3ym#COVID19 #FactsNotFear #AfricaResponds
- Africa CDC (@AfricaCDC) May 5, 2020On April 19, Andry Rajoelina, President of Madagascar, sent a televised message to the nation announcing the existence of a natural remedy developed by the Malagasy Institute for Applied Research (IMRA), which, he said, had proven effective. against coronavirus. The home distribution of the product throughout the island raised concern in civil society and in scientific organizations in the country, such as the National Academy of Medicine, although this, after meeting with Rajoelina, accepted its use, remembering that it is not a medicine but "an improved natural remedy."
Immediately, many African countries showed interest in Covid-Organics and Madagascar, one of the world's leading mugwort growers, offered their counterparts lots of the product for free. The first boxes have already arrived in Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, from where they will be distributed by Senegal and other West African countries. Tanzania, the two Congos and the Central African Republic are also waiting for their requests, while Gabon, Egypt or Rwanda praised the Malagasy initiative and are waiting.
Can mugwort be effective against covid-19? They are investigating this at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces, based in Potsdam, Germany. Its director, Professor Peter Seeberger, assures that different studies carried out in China showed the efficacy of this plant during the coronavirus outbreak of the last decade and that, given the similarity of both pathogens, it is worth finding out. "We cannot advance results yet, but we are working on the ability of different mugwort extracts to kill the virus," he said. Seeberger warns, however, that each variety contains different amounts of artemisinin and calls for caution.
Basilio Valladares, Professor of Parasitology and expert in Tropical Medicine, highlights that this active ingredient is not new, but has been used for years against malaria with good results, especially in those patients where the parasite showed resistance to other antimalarials such as chloroquine. "Regarding its possible efficacy against this virus, clinical trials should be carried out," he says.
This is the line that the WHO defends. "Africans deserve the use of medicines tested to the same standards as in the rest of the world," adds the highest global health body, for whom "even if the therapies derive from traditional and natural practices, establish their efficacy and safety through rigorous clinical trials is crucial. "
Not only is there no evidence that this infusion works, but if you start to distribute it uncontrollably in a place like Africa, you can generate resistance and take away the best molecule we have.
In this sense, the UA asked the Malagasy government for "technical data" on Covid-Organics in order to verify its "safety and effectiveness". On April 30, the head of Social Affairs of the pan-African body, Amira ElFadil, held a meeting with a representative of the Malagasy government and he agreed to send "the necessary details" regarding this natural remedy, according to this body in a statement. With this information, the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will review "all the scientific data collected so far on the safety and efficacy" of the remedy.
Carlos Costa, president of the Art Oasis association, which has been training in permaculture and the use of medicinal plants in southern Senegal for more than a decade, in collaboration with the Government of this country and of Guinea-Bissau, confirms its widespread use. also in West Africa. "Mugwort is a well-known plant and has been used for centuries as medicine. We know that many African countries currently cultivate it, not only Madagascar, but also Angola or Nigeria have large plantations, ”he says.
After the Covid-Organics, which according to the Malagasy authorities is both preventive and curative, President Rajoelina announced on Monday the start of clinical trials with a coronavirus vaccine also based on mugwort. "I encourage Malagasy countrymen to grow sagebrush to increase our production capacity to 3,000 tons a year. The value of a ton of sagebrush is $ 3,000, compared to $ 350 for rice," said the president.
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