Jambi has herbs to 'cure AIDS'

JAMBI, Jambi: The forests of Jambi have herbs that can cure those infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which can cause the deadly Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) an official says.

The head of the Natural Resources Conservation Agency at the Jambi's Ministry of Forestry and Plantations office in Jambi said here on Saturday that 100 out of 4,500 herbal samples examined by the U.S. National Cancer Institute were from Indonesia.

"While 13 out of the 1,000 species of the plants are found in the three conservation forests of Cagar Biosfir Bukit-12, Berbak National Park and Bukit Tiga National Park in the province of Jambi," Agus Priambudi was quoted by Antara as saying.

The three herbal species include Andrographis paniculata, locally known as sambiloto, Ageratum conysoldes, known as bandotan, Areca catechu or gambir, Amaranthus spinorus or bayam duri, Averrhoa bilimbi or belimbing and Blumea balsamifera known as sembung. (sur)