Indigenous Rainforest Shamans

A Floridian physican takes on the role of "shaman's apprentice" deep inside the Amazon rainforest with indigenous medicine men. In new article tagged "how rainforest shamans treat disease" published at mongabay.com yesterday you can read Rhett A. Butler's interview with Christopher Herndon about his interest in medicine, fascination with botany, and his experiences with the Trio tribe.

Readers are given background information about the Trio tribe and its partnership with the Amazon Conservation Team that helps preserve the ecosystems and medicinal practices within the Amazon. Butler writes:

Trio tribe have a complex understanding of disease concepts, one that is comparable to Western medical science. Trio medicine men recognize at least 75 distinct disease conditions--ranging from common ailments like fever [këike] to specific and rare medical conditions like Bell's palsy [ehpijanejan] and distinguish between old (endemic) and new (introduced since contact with the outside world) illnesses.

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