Potential Use of Euphorbia hirta for Dengue: A Systematic Review of Scientific Evidence

Table 1

Summary of studies conducted on antidengue activity of Euphorbia hirta.

Number	Study	Experimental model	Part of the plant/preparation method	Outcome
	[19]	Ethnopharmacological survey	Decoction of leaves or bark	Predominately 60–80 years of age mostly females with primary and secondary education were aware of the use of E. hirta for dengue.
	[20]	Descriptive ethnobotanical survey	Expressed juice of E. hirta	A survey conducted using questionnaires in Agoo, La Union, Philippines revealed Tawa-Tawa is the most sought medicinal plant for dengue.
		In vivo assay on rabbits (Aspirin-induced thrombocytopenia)	Expressed juice of E. hirta	A significant increase of platelet count after 24 hours of administration of E. hirta juice into thrombocytopenic rabbits.
	[21]	In vivo assay on rats (ethanol (i.p injection) induced thrombocytopenic model)	Decoction of fresh whole plant	A significant increase of platelet counts after 14 days of administration of E. hirta, further reporting decreased bleeding time and clotting time of rats.
	[22]	In vivo assay using rats (thrombocytopenia was induced using Anagrelide)	Water extract of leaves	Mean platelet count was increased by 80% following E. hirta treatment for 9 days.
	[23]	Clinical study using dengue patients admitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore.	Herbal water	Over 70% patients exhibited a platelet increase. Marked recovery in fever and flu like symptoms following 24 hours of administration of E. hirta.
	[25]	In vitro assay for DENV-2 serotype	Ethanol extract of leaves	Virus inhibition by 34.7%.
	[24]	In vitro assay	Tea of E. hirta and ethyl acetate/methanol and ethyl acetate partitioning.	The ethyl acetate fraction of whole plant of E. hirta extracted using methanol and dichloromethane significantly reduced (85%) the plaque forming capacity of dengue virus serotype 1. Nine compounds were isolated from the fraction.
	[26]	Molecular docking; of phytochemicals with 2FOM-dengue proteases, 2P40-methyl transferase of dengue	Leaves of E. hirta	Quercetin exhibited strongest binding with dengue virus. Thus, E. hirta can be indicated as effective against dengue virus.