Impact of Medicinal Plants and herbs in Combating COVID- 19

The spread of COVID 19 virus has caused several diseases ranging from mild ones to severe illness such as headache, loss of smell (anosmia) and taste (ageusia), cough, muscle pain, nasal congestion, sore throat, fever, diarrhea, and acuter respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Many elderly people were affected. The availability of medicines and medical support was little better in urban areas than in rural areas. Even in case of availability of medical support, it was not affordable to many. The major challenge for the non-availability of medicines specific to the virus. Most of the cases were treated and many were prevented by boosting the immune system of the body. The potential natural plant sources to improve the immunity and safeguard people against such infections and alternative choices of medicinal plant-based therapeutics are explored in this study, Studies on coronavirus has revealed that the rapid spread of the infection, since the first occurrence in Wuhan city in China, is mainly due to the structural differences in S protein. The studies of medical reports of cases reported positive for corona infection established the fact that in such cases the immune effector cells released excessive pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. This in turn caused systemic inflammatory reactions, leading to acuter respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which is some cases ended up death of the patients. In India, the fatality rate was about 1.5% of population, which is low when compared to other countries. Despite the dense population and minimal medical support and infrastructure in rural areas, the low rate of fatality could be because of the use of many immunomodulator medicinal plants in their routine diet. However many have realised the potential and power of medicinal plants, most of them are commonly available and easily accessible to everyone – rich or poor. Such medicinal natural plants aid immunomodulator and anti-allergic/ anti-inflammatory activities. Hence the present study is carried out to assert the fact the medicinal natural plants can serve as one of the potential healing agents to increase immunity against infections. There are lot of scope for the pharmaceutical companied and medical practitioners including ayurvedic researchers for design of drugs for to boost immune system and cure infections.