Emerging paradigms of viral diseases and paramount role of natural resources as antiviral agents

Abstract

In the current scenario, the increasing prevalence of diverse microbial infections as well as emergence and re-emergence of viral epidemics with high morbidity and mortality rates are major public health threat. Despite the persistent production of antiviral drugs and vaccines in the global market, viruses still remain as one of the leading causes of deadly human diseases. Effective control of viral diseases, particularly Zika virus disease, Nipah virus disease, Severe acute respiratory syndrome, Coronavirus disease, Herpes simplex virus infection, Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and Ebola virus disease remain promising goal amidst the mutating viral strains. Current trends in the development of antiviral drugs focus solely on testing novel drugs or repurposing drugs against potential targets of the viruses. Compared to synthetic drugs, medicines from natural resources offer less side-effect to humans and are often cost-effective in the productivity approaches. This review intends not only to emphasize on the major viral disease outbreaks in the past few decades and but also explores the potentialities of natural substances as antiviral traits to combat viral pathogens. Here, we spotlighted a comprehensive overview of antiviral components present in varied natural sources, including plants, fungi, and microorganisms in order to identify potent antiviral agents for developing alternative therapy in future.

Possible Use of Phytochemicals for Recovery from COVID-19-Induced Anosmia and Ageusia

“…There have been studies on the possible use of natural products to treat or prevent infections by various virus species (for review [396][397][398][399]). For example, studies have shown the anti-viral effects of carvacrol on murine norovirus [400], the effects of α-terpinene, γ-terpinene, α-pinene, p-cymene, terpinene-4-ol, α-terpineol, thymol, citral, and 1,8-cineole on herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) [401,402] and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) [403].…”

Honokiol and alfa-Mangostin inhibit Mayaro virus replication by stimulating the type I interferon pathway

“…Natural products are a rich source of molecules with diverse biological activities; while some natural compounds have been shown to protect against viruses of specific families, others have demonstrated broad-spectrum antiviral activity [16-18]. Drugs derived from natural sources have several advantages over synthetic compounds, among them low cost, fewer side-effects, diversity and complexity of chemical molecules, which may limit viral drug resistance and their cost-effectiveness in drug discovery programs [19]. All these characteristics suggest that screening natural compounds is a promising strategy for identifying new potential antivirals.…”

African and Asian Medicinal Plants as a Repository for Prospective Antiviral Metabolites Against HIV-1 and SARS CoV-2: A Mini Review

“…The emergence and re-emergence of new infectious diseases especially of viral origin are of great concern to global public health ( Louten, 2016 ; Mourya et al, 2019 ; Abrahão and de Arruda, 2020 ). This has reignited the search for natural compounds especially, from plants as potential sources of new drug candidates to add to the current armamentarium ( Jans et al, 2020 ). This review focusses on HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2, the viruses that cause AIDs and covid-19 respectively because over the last 50 years, these two viruses have caused huge pandemics globally: the HIV/AIDS pandemic and covid-19 pandemic ( Illanes-Álvarez, et al, 2021 ).…”