ブラジル・アマゾン先住民族、伝統の薬用植物でコロナと闘う

【マナウスＡＦＰ＝時事】白衣やマスクを着用する研究室の世界からは遠く離れて、羽根と葉でできた頭飾りをかぶった先住民族の治療師集団が、新型コロナウイルス感染症を治療する薬用植物を求めてアマゾン川を上っていく。（写真はブラジル北西部アマゾナス州マナウスの西にある先住民族サテレマウェの居住地で、薬用植物とされるアマゾン熱帯雨林原産のカフェラナを摘む男性）
　小さなモーターボートに乗ったサテレマウェの男性５人は、アマゾナス州の逼迫（ひっぱく）した医療機関を利用することなく同胞らが生き延びられるよう、手だてを探っている。
　同州は辺地であるにもかかわらず、新型コロナウイルスの世界的な大流行の最も大きな影響を受けている地域の一つとなっている。
　「先祖が教えてくれたように、私たちは自分たちの伝統療法で治療してきた」と語るのは、同州の州都マナウスから遠く離れた村の出身で、同民族の指導者のアンドレ・サテレマウェさん。
　「私たちはおのおの、受け継いだ知識を使って治療薬を集めては試し、それを病気の異なる症状に対して使ってきた」
　アマゾナス州では感染が急速に拡大し、２万人超が感染、１４００人が死亡。病院は患者であふれ、当局は共同墓地の設置を余儀なくされている。
　特に同州の先住民族には、外界から持ち込まれた病気により大勢が犠牲となった悲劇的な歴史があることから、懸念が生じている。
　ブラジル先住民族連合によると、新型ウイルスは４０民族に広がっており、５３７人が陽性反応を示し、１０２人が亡くなったという。
　サテレマウェは、抗炎症作用があるカラパナウバの木や、抗マラリア作用がある木の樹皮からつくった茶の他、マンゴーピールやミント、蜂蜜などを「薬」として用いる。
　新型ウイルスにすでに感染したと考えている村人らは、伝統療法は効くと話している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/05/21-13:16）

Far from lab coat and face mask territory, a group of indigenous healers with feather and leaf headdresses is working its way up the Amazon river, looking for medicinal plants to treat the new coronavirus.
In a small motor boat, five men from the Satere Mawe tribe are trying to help their people survive without using the saturated state health system in Amazonas, in northwestern Brazil, which despite its remoteness is one of the places hit hardest by the pandemic.
We've been treating our symptoms with our own traditional remedies, the way our ancestors taught us, said Andre Satere Mawe, a tribal leader who comes from a small village on the far outskirts of the state capital, Manaus.
We've each used the knowledge handed down to us to gather treatments and test them, using each one against a different symptom of the disease.
The rapid spread of the virus in Amazonas, where more than 20,000 people have been infected and 1,400 have died, has overwhelmed hospitals and forced authorities to dig mass graves for the dead.
It has also raised fears for the region's indigenous peoples, who have a tragic history of being decimated by diseases brought in from the outside world.
The virus has infected 40 indigenous groups, with 537 positive cases and 102 deaths, according to the Brazilian Indigenous Peoples' Association.
- 'Fending for ourselves' -
The Satere Mawes' remedies include teas made from the bark of the carapanauba tree, which has anti-inflammatory properties; from the saracuramira tree, an anti-malarial; and ingredients such as mango peel, mint and honey.
Villagers who suspect they have had the new coronavirus say the traditional remedies work.
I was feeling weak, it felt like I had something in my lungs, I couldn't breathe, said Valda Ferreira de Souza, a 35-year-old artisan.
I took a home-made syrup, which made me feel a lot better.
Rosivane Pereira da Silva, 40, helps Andre Satere Mawe prepare these remedies. She learned the techniques from her grandfather Marcos, who at 93 years old is still teaching her what he knows.
When the pandemic arrived in Amazonas, I went and asked him what to do, said Da Silva.
The Satere Mawe, an ethnic group of about 13,000 people, live mainly in the Andira-Marau indigenous reserve.
But Andre Satere Mawe's group and others have moved closer to Manaus in recent decades.
Not that they are relying on the city's health services.
They've been forced to choose who gets care and who doesn't -- and we don't, he said.
But we've learned to fend for ourselves.