Thirty-one of 75 extracts of plants used by traditional healers for snakebites, had moderate
or high neutralizing ability against the haemorrhagic effect of Bothrops atrox venom from
Antioquia and Chocó, north-western Colombia. After preincubation of several doses of every
extract (7.8–4000 μg/mouse) with six minimum haemorrhagic doses (10 μg) of venom, 12 of
them demonstrated 100% neutralizing capacity when the mixture was id injected into mice
(18–20 g). These were the stem barks of Brownea rosademonte (Caesalpiniaceae) and …

In Antioquia and Chocó, traditional healers attend 60% of snakebites. With the aim to
produce an inventory of the plants used by the healers to treat snakebites and to document
the methods of preparation, administration, the dosage, number of patients treated
throughout their years of practice with treatment results, 20 healers with experience in
Bothrops, Porthidium and Bothriechis envenomations were interviewed between August,
1996 and November, 1998. They belong to nine black and three indigenous rural …