COVID-19 and Phytotherapy

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2), emerging in Wuhan city, China, causing COVID-19 disease, has been described as a pandemic by WHO (World Health Organization), leading to outbreaks of pneumonia. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect millions of people worldwide. SARS-COV-2 enters the cell via ACE-2 (Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2) receptor. These receptors are predominantly found in lung, small intestine, and vascular endothelial cells. Since ACE 2 is found more frequently in these tissues, common clinical symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue, dyspnea, and diarrhea. Currently, although symptomatic treatments are applied for COVID-19, there is no specific treatment yet. It takes a long time before targeted therapies can be found. For this reason, it is necessary to develop emergency treatment or methods that can quickly control the disease. Phytotherapeutic compositions offer a potentially valuable resource for this purpose. Many countries, especially China, aimed to reduce morbidity and mortality by using phytotherapy throughout COVID-19 patients. Phytotherapeutic products are known to be safe and tolerable with their background knowledge. In this regard, the use of phytotherapy as a complementary treatment in COVID-19 patients is very important. In this review, phytotherapeutic approaches related to symptoms that may occur in the clinical course of COVID-19 disease will be discussed.