Acta Scientific Pharmaceutical Sciences (ISSN: 2581-5423)

Volume 4 Issue 4 April 2020

Review Article

Use of Herbal Medicines on Coronavirus

Tanya Dudani1* and Ayush Saraogi2

Received: March 19, 2020
1
Master of Pharmacy, Shri Ram Group of Institutions, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh,
Published: March 24, 2020
India
© All rights are reserved by Tanya Dudani
2
Post Graduate Diploma in Pharmaceutical Management, S.I.E.S College of
and Ayush Saraogi.
Management Studies, India
*Corresponding Author: Tanya Dudani, Master of Pharmacy, Shri Ram Group of
Institutions, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Abstract
Coronavirus disease (CoViD-19) is basically a respiratory infection caused by a group of viruses infecting respiratory pathway,
lungs and it can spread from animal to person, person to person while sneezing or physical contact. Its common symptoms includes
cough, cold, fever and sore throat. Herbal medicine is a class of medicine originating from nature hence causing less side effects be-
cause of less use of additives, preservatives or excipients. I chose writing a review over the use of herbs for the treatment of Corona-
virus because of rapid spread of the infection, availability of less knowledge regarding the treatment and increased concern of public
to protect themselves from the effect of viral infection and preventing the use of allopathic medicines.
Keywords: Herbal; Allopathic; Coronavirus; Efficacy

Introduction tably reduce the intensity of symptoms, death rate and side effects
Corona virus is caused by rapidly dividing virus which works by as observed in China. The patients admitted first in China recov-
injecting it's genome into other's gene and multiplies there hence it ered completely from the infection and they were given a treatment
depends on other organisms for its growth and therefore makes it that combined modern medicine and herbal remedies. Based on
more difficult to vanish the disease-causing agent and it is becom- the laboratory in vitro studies, the Institute of China discovered Sh-
ing a great topic of research among the drug developers, research- uanghuanglian oral liquid that could be used to inhibit the 2019-n-
ers and scientists. When a patient is treated with a herbal drug, the CoV. Use of herbal drugs and traditional methods is making it more
continuous observation of treatment and it's effect becomes pre- difficult to ascertain which method is more beneficial among the
requisite to alter the dose as and when required on the basis of ef- modern drug or herbal remedies because of the mixed opinions re-
fects observed by the herbal practitioner. There is no scientific evi- ceived. The use of herbs is supported by many on the basis of their
dence for any of these alternative remedies like TCM (traditional personal experience, some remained highly skeptical, if not hostile.
Chinese medicine) and herbs to prevent or cure the illness caused Since this virus strain is not available to any laboratory in India, it
by this virus, in fact, some of them may cause side effects. After is inconceivable that any preclinical or clinical testing is done in
the outbreak, Guangdong had reported a mortality of just 0.1% of such a short period of time. For present, it appears inappropriate
infected people - compared with Wuhan's rate of 2.6% - and none and premature to recommend any alternative therapies for what
of the confirmed patients in Zhejiang had died, the reason is that appears like a looming epidemic. As the scientists are still strug-
the patients in Guangdong and Zhejiang were given herbal drinks gling for claiming the efficacy, recommendation of untested and
to relieve symptoms even before they were testing positive. When unproven medications by health authorities can be misleading and
observed the areas were herbal treatment was administered, re- potentially dangerous, few preventive measures can be advised but
ported less number of deaths as compared to the areas were herbs not treatment advice.
were not administered. There is plenty of data supporting the ef-
Herbs responsible for treating Corona virus infection
fectiveness of herbs in treating viral infection but it is difficult to
tell exactly how well herbs perform because in most cases they are Out of all the natural compounds assayed, 13 were tested posi-

administered with modern pills and some patients in critical condi- tive for treating 2019-nCoV which are also present in traditional

tion are also supported with technical life support such as artificial Chinese medicine. Afterwards, out of these 13 compounds 2 or

lungs. The combination of modern and traditional therapy can no- more were found to be present among 125 Chinese herbs, out of

Citation: Tanya Dudani and Ayush Saraogi. “Use of Herbal Medicines on Coronavirus". Acta Scientific Pharmaceutical Sciences 4.4 (2020): 61-63.
Use of Herbal Medicines on Coronavirus

62

which 26 herbs are basically categorized for treatment of breath- ral strain by studying their interaction with herbs in computer us-
ing respiratory infections caused by the virus. Among other 22 ing computer-aided drug design (CADD) technology. The research
medicinal herbal extracts assayed, Cimicifuga rhizoma, Meliaecor- empowered China to fight against the coronavirus with the help of
tex, Coptidis rhizoma, Phellodendron cortex and Sephorasubstrata technology and knowledge of herbs. Some of the patients infected
radix reduced the MHV (mouse hepatitis virus) produced and the with novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) were found to be cured with
intracellular viral RNA and protein expression with EC50 (effective traditional Chinese medicine or with combination of herbal and al-
concentration) from 2.0 - 27.5 micron/ml. They also reduced PEDV lopathic medicine in Jinyinthan Hospital in Wuhan from where the
(porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus) production and VSV (vesicular Coronavirus started.
stomatitis virus) production in vitro. These extracts inhibited MHV
production to a great extent and can also be used as anti-corona- The patients were treated by Traditional Chinese Medicine doc-
viral drugs. tors from Beijing's Xiyuan and Guanganmen Hospitals and they
were also looking after the patients in Wuhan since the outbreak,
Shuanghuanglian, discovered in China's medical Institute, both under the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, as re-
which is a blend of Forsythia, Chinese skull cap and Honeysuckle ported by Xinhua [1-5].
is categorized as antiviral, antibacterial and found to be good for
the immune system. It is also used for treating common symptoms Conclusion
such as fever, cough and sore throat. But still, we are not clear with Herbal treatment can be used for treatment against coronavirus
the actual chemical constituent present in the preparation respon- infection as it is the only alternative we are left with for now other
sible for treating the infection. In a paper titled, "Study progress than few allopathic medicines suspected to be effective and some
on Antiviral activities and mechanism of Flavonoids in Traditional life support systems supporting the functioning of lungs and also
Chinese medicine and natural medicines", it is stated that the Fla- because of following reasons - Few positive results observed by ad-
vonoid extracted from the Litchi seeds can be used for treating the ministering herbal drugs.
symptoms of SARS-CoV3CL by inhibiting the proteinase activity
Unavailability of an allopathic drug.
which is essential for viral protein synthesis

Lack of knowledge of the viral strain responsible for causing

Traditional Chinese medicine effect reports
infection.
After the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS), which occurred in 2002-03, World Health Organization The herbs are found to work best only when combined with
started investing in huge number for knowing the efficacy of herbal modern medicine and life support system under proper observa-
medicine. The factories in Hubei started producing herbal drinks in tion. The research must be carried on rapidly to investigate the
large amount and in fast rate for the isolated, quarantined citizens chemical constituent completely effective for treating the infection
suspected to be infected with the virus, the drink to be used for dis- till then herbs must be administered to treat the infection and pre-
tribution was first boiled and then was packed in plastic contain- vent it's spread while keeping the side effects of herbs in mind.
ers, in Wuhan 1 plant could be used to meet the daily requirement
of 30,000 patients, according to the People's Daily, a local newspa- Acknowledgment
per. A research study conducted by the Chinese University of Hong My sincere thanks to my college colleagues, faculty and man-
Kong which also involved local patients suggested herbal treatment agement for their support.
as, "a safe, efficacious and affordable severe acute respiratory syn-
drome (SARS) prevention measure, "also supported by the infor- Conflict of Interest
mation on World Health Organization website. The author declares no conflict of interest.

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Use of Herbal Medicines on Coronavirus

63

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Citation: Tanya Dudani and Ayush Saraogi. “Use of Herbal Medicines on Coronavirus". Acta Scientific Pharmaceutical Sciences 4.4 (2020): 61-63.