title: Traditional uses of herbal vapour therapy in Manipur, North East India: an ethnobotanical survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vapour-based medicines are an aspect of traditional medicine in North East India. However, no collective studies on this therapy in the region have been attempted. With the changing perception of traditional knowledge, documenting these herbal preparations and the subsequent development of baseline data for applications in further ethnopharmacological research are needed.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To survey and document the plant species associated with vapour therapy in Manipur, North East India, and to evaluate these traditional practices.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect information from the Meitei community in the Imphal valley and the Jiribam area in Manipur. Traditional disease concepts were studied along with their corresponding medical terminologies. Plant samples collected from fields, healers' private collections and home gardens were identified. Evaluation of the ethnobotanical data was performed with a modified fidelity level index.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the study, 41 traditional disease complexes were treated by 13 different routes of administration using 48 mono-ingredient and 17 multi-ingredient compositions. Preparation methods included boiling in water (28%), burning the materials (48%), crushing the materials to release the aroma (21%) and slight heating of the materials (3%). Some of the mono-ingredient recipes reported in the study were observed to have similar uses in other parts of the world, whereas polyherbal remedies were found to be unique without any similar report.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Many compositions mentioned in the paper are still used by the Meitei community. Traditional healers follow their own criteria for selecting medicinal plants. Plants recorded in this ethnobotanical study can suggest methods for selecting and identifying potentially effective plants for future drug candidates. Scientific characterisation of the herbal remedies can contribute to the endorsement of traditional vapour-based therapies in the modern health care systems. Findings from these "new usage" reports of plants and unique combinations of polyherbal compositions indicate the importance of such documentation efforts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Ghanapriya Women's College, Imphal, Manipur 795001, India. ningthouja@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Sanjoy Singh
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Ningthoujam
authors.forename: Anupam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Das Talukdar
authors.forename: Kumar Singh
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Potsangbam
authors.forename: Manabendra Dutta
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Choudhury
mesh_terms: D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D019448:Ethnobotany; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D009812:Odorants; D008517:Phytotherapy; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D028321:Plant Preparations