Johannesburg - A pioneering study to determine whether medicinal plants can be used to halt the progression of HIV into full-blown Aids is expected to begin next month at a South African hospital, a conference on traditional medicine was told on Thursday.
About 124 HIV patients will participate in the trial of the Sutherlandia plant, also known as "unwele" or the "cancer bush" at Edenvale hospital in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal province, scientists told the African Traditional Medicine conference in Durban.
The trial will be the first to study the effectiveness of traditional medicine in delaying the progression of Aids in HIV patients and draws on the knowledge of traditional healers, who have long used the plant, claiming it boosts the immune system.
Traditional healers have participated in the conception and design of the project, Professor Nceba Gqaleni of the University of KwaZulu- Natal told SAfm radio.
Only patients in the early stages of HIV will participate in the study, which is a joint initiative between the Universities of KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Missouri in the US.
Initial results are expected in about 18 months.
South African scientists are said to be divided on the healing potential of Sutherlandia, which grows as a bush and is already on sale in tablet form.
Some Aids hospices in South Africa are already using it to treat patients' symptoms, amid anecdotal reports of good results.
News of the trial comes amid fresh calls for the resignation of South Africa's Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang for, among other things, endorsing vegetable remedies to treat the symptoms of HIV and Aids and talking down antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) that have been proven to prolong the lives of HIV and Aids patients. - Sapa-DPA