Therapy Against COVID-19: Medicinal Plant Extracts Can Be a Solution

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Despite the development of anti-COVID-19 vaccine, the disease continues to kill thousands of people, mainly due to a lack of sufficient doses for all populations and to the prioritization of populations to be vaccinated. According to epidemiological data from April 06, 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic has already killed more than 6,184,299 people around the world with nearly 494,286,073confirmed cases. To date, no antiviral drug has been officially approved to fight this pandemic. Medical professionals and researchers all over the globe are in pursuit for the discovery therapies against this disease. One of the strategies is the use of medicinal plants. Indeed, plant extracts can inhibit viral growth and their effectiveness has been demonstrated on many viruses encountered in human pathology including SARS-CoV-1, poliovirus, varicella-zoster virus, HIV, human papillomavirus, HSV-1, HSV-2, influenza virus, cytomegalovirus and many others. Besides, it has been shown that plant extracts can regulate immune system and make the body able to prevent the establishment of viral infection or to fight against its deleterious effects. The exploration of plant extracts with anti-viral and immunostimulatory properties could be exploitable in the development of drug against COVID-19. This review promotes medicinal plant extracts as potential anti-COVID-19 drugs.