It has been just revealed the fact that there’s a natural remedy that can inactivate COVID-19 and enterovirus. Check out the latest reports about this matter below.
New natural cures arise
The COVID-19 virus is still present and ongoing, which has resulted in the need for a natural antiviral remedy. Recently, a study was conducted to explore the broad-spectrum antiviral activity of willow bark extract, which has been used for thousands of years for its anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, and analgesic properties.
The research team, comprised of Finnish scientists, published their findings in November in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology. They found that willow bark extract is highly effective in deactivating the coronaviruses SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-OC43, as well as enteroviruses.
The research paper states, “There is a great need to find broadly acting antiviral agents that would lower the infectivity of viruses around us and that could complement the vaccines and drugs in the combat against viruses. Natural products are a rich source of bioactive compounds.”
Researchers used willow bark to create an extract that was found to be effective against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The extract resulted in a 99.9999% reduction in viral RNA, indicating a strong antiviral effect. Various types of the extract were able to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection, demonstrating its effectiveness against the virus.
Symptoms of coronavirus include respiratory problems, fever, and in severe cases, death. Seven known coronaviruses that can infect humans include SARS-CoV-2, HCoV-OC43, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, HCoV-NL63, HCoV-HKU1, and HCoV-229E.
HCoV-OC43 is a seasonal coronavirus that causes mild upper respiratory tract infections. Willow bark extract can protect human lung fibroblast cells from HCoV-OC43 virus infection. The extract was added to cells at a 1% v/v concentration after pre-treating the virus for an hour at 34 C.
According to the virus inactivation test, the infectivity of the HCoV-OC43 virus decreased by 3 to 4 logs when treated with willow bark extract, compared to the virus control group that didn’t receive any treatment.
The antiviral efficacy of the extract was observed at both high and low temperatures, even with a very short incubation period (less than one minute).
The research team also tested individual compounds present in willow bark extract, including salicin, salicylic acid, and picein. However, none of these compounds showed any antiviral activity against HCoV-OC43, even when used at concentrations ten times higher than that of the willow bark extract.
This suggests that the observed bioactive properties and broad-spectrum antiviral effects of willow bark extract are likely due to the synergistic effects of its components, such as flavonoids and procyanidins.
As conclusion, we should not the fact that the study confirms that willow bark extract can inhibit both enveloped viruses (coronaviruses) and non-enveloped viruses (enteroviruses).
