The potentials of tropical plants in the management of COVID-19 symptoms
Disclaimer: The opinions represented in this post are strictly mine (except otherwise stated) and stand to be corrected. While plants are a huge source of drugs for human use, their constituents may be contraindicated in some people. Please seek medical help if you experience disease-related symptoms.
So much has been said about the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic and how the symptoms it elicits vary from individual to individual. Since the virus became a global health emergency, all hands have been on deck to find a lasting solution to the virus with the latest being that the United Kingdom, the University of Oxford to be precise, will start a human trial of a potential vaccine against the virus today, 23rd April 2020.
Between prevention and cure
For those that might be wondering why a permanent cure is not being sought instead of vaccines, viral infections generally do not have a permanent cure. This is because viruses are not entirely considered a living organism. They depend largely on the machinery of their host cells in order to reproduce either by lytic or the lysogenic cycle. Hence, a drug that targets any part of the viruses' life cycle will most likely hurt their hosts in the process.
Once viruses are able to bypass a host's immune system and establish themselves in the system of the host, the only way forward for the host is to keep engaging in activities that will boost the immune system while simultaneously managing the symptoms associated with the infection. The immune system is stimulated to produce antibodies that will keep fighting the virus. Once the body system produces enough antibodies, the virus is chased into the oblivion and the host is said to become healed.
So basically, what viral vaccines do is to stimulate the production of specific antibodies within the host's immune system. By so doing, the body system is naturally able to defend itself against the virus. Some antibodies last throughout the lifetime of a host while some while away with time. This is the main reason why some vaccines are only administered just once in an individual's lifetime while come are required to be administered at regular intervals.
The earlier cacophony about chloroquine
A report emerged a few months ago about the potentials of chloroquine to inhibit the replication process of COVID-19 virus as well as treat some of the related symptoms. Since then, there have been arguments and counter-arguments against the use of the drug.
Chloroquine and its derivatives are without doubts effective against the malaria parasite and the symptoms associated with the malaria disease. Interestingly, some of the symptoms associated with COVID-19 infection, when critically analyzed, are similar to some malarial symptoms. Hence, I was not totally surprised to know that the drug could be effective in the management of the symptoms associated with the infection.
However, like I pointed out earlier that any drug that will target the virus will most likely harm the virus's host in the process, it is not surprising to see some experts reporting some potentially terrible side effects of using the drug to treat the virus.
COVID-19's symptoms management and plants
Even though some people will argue that we are in the twenty-first century, there are still some inherent advantages in using plants and their natural products in the management of infections.
First, not everyone has access to conventional drugs. While some countries are in the twenty-first century with its associated civilization, some areas of the world are still stuck somewhere in the twelfth century and largely depend on plants and other natural products for healing against various diseases.
In addition, conventional drugs come with their own side effects. While some of these effects could be mild, others could be terrible. Natural products are 100% organic and compatible with the body when taken in the right quantities.
Lastly, while conventional drugs could be expensive and largely unaffordable for poor people, plants are everywhere and virtually free to access and use. Several constituents from most drugs are derived from plants and other natural products anyway, even though they might later be synthesized in the laboratory for commercial production.
Since the virus has some symptoms in common with malaria infection, plants that have been proven to be effective against the symptoms of malaria should as well be effective in managing the corresponding symptoms associated with the virus. These symptoms include:
- Fever
- Aches and pains
- Tiredness
In the tropics, some of the plants that have been reported to have the capacity to manage malarial symptoms include Sphenocentrum jollyanum, Rauvolfia vomitoria, Azadirachta indica, Chromolaena odorata, and many other plants.
Some COVID-19 infected patients reported diarrhea as one of their symptoms and several tropical plants have been reported to have pharmacological activity against diarrhea. Plants such as Ocimum species, Acacia nilotica, Acanthospermun hispidum, Gmelina arborea, Parkia biglobosa, Vitex doniana, and several others within the tropical regions have been implicated in this regards.
In addition to the above symptoms, nasal congestion, coughing, sore throat, and runny nose have also been reported to manifest in different combinations in some patients. All these symptoms, one way or the other, have plant species that have been researched to be effective against their mitigation.
Summary
Coronavirus, just like several other viral pathogens has no known cure, and symptoms associated with its infection can only be managed while the immune system of the host keeps fighting the viruses.
Some of the symptoms relating to the virus's infection correspond to malarial symptoms and as such, plant species that have been researched to be effective in the mitigation of malarial symptoms could also potentially be applied in the management of the virus's infection.
Other symptoms associated with the infection by COVID-19 can also be potentially managed plant species that have been reported to be effective in the management of specific relevant symptoms.
In fact, this is more about using the plants to help with the diarrhea potentially originating from the virus. I must admit that I was a bit shocked when I read the title of your post... But then after reading the text it was better (therefore, one should always read what follows the title ;) ).
:) You are welcome
I am LOVING your botanist self's inputs to @naturalmedicine! Awesome. It's an EXCELLENT point that you make about so-called treatments and vaccinations for viruses harming their hosts. I'm still subscribed to "Do No Harm." 😊
Thank you @artemislives. The naturalmedicine community is really awesome and I am really encouraged with what I've seen so far. I feel encouraged to write more than before.
Look forward to reading lots more from you. 🙂
I will keep making efforts. Thanks for the support
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It is always wonderful to read your writings my dear friend <3 You have brought to us uncomplicated, pertinent information :) Personally, what I found of great importance here was your clarification of how in viral infections the focus is placed on managing symptoms and not the microorganism itself (because actually targeting the virus' cycle can potentially harm us.).
Brazilians are great adepts of using herbs and other natural resources to treat various health issues. So, I liked very much the observations you raised as to why plants as a means for treatment shouldn't be cast aside because we are in the 21st century.
I followed the links you directed us here to lytic and lysogenic virus cycles (this is new info to me). However, as soon I read the definition of lysogenic cycle I immediately thought of the HIV virus. Now, I'm wondering through which cycle COVID-19 reproduces? lysogenic or lytic? The latter?
Thank you for taking the time to keep us well-informed in a most inviting, straight-forward manner my dear.
Much love to you and the family (especially to the little one <3) :*
Thanks for the audience dear Abii.
One of the governors in the Nigerian states actually used plant materials (black seeds) to manage his covid19 symptoms and he was able to fight the virus in less than 2 weeks. Although it might sound totally anecdotal, but it reinforces the fact that plants have genuine potentials in the treatment of diseases. The world's plant biodiversity should be preserved at all cost because they represent humanity's hope against future infections.
Concerning covid19 life cycle, the virus uses lytic cycle just like every other virus in the Coronaviridae family. It uses the hosts ribosome to synthesize its proteins.
Thank you very much for this article, which I consider a contribution to a different understanding than what it generally sounds like.
All too easily we forget the wider perspective of seeing ourselves as living beings that have undergone millions of years of evolution. All interacting creatures on this planet are constantly doing "their best" to guarantee life. The miracle of evolution is indescribable. Whether virus and bacterium, which live in co-existence with all animals and plants, keep up with the respective changes of the organisms, everything always points to the fact that numerous organisms and forms of existence are always trying to reproduce themselves and to "design" their co-existence as effective as possible. In the face of this assumption of evolution that we have meanwhile accepted, it seems to me very presumptuous to mess up this complex process of adaptation of all planetary events and co-existences and to raise us to omniscientists. Only because we have managed to establish a medicine that is often seen in the wrong light. Man is very often mistaken. In principle, the entire science consists of theses that are (must be) refuted again and again and again. There is no absolute knowledge about the innumerable processes inside and outside our body. We make ourselves the greatest experimenters towards ourselves, that should be clear to us.
It can be assumed that the earthly conditions on this planet are of a fascination that we still cannot explain. The tunnel vision we all get when certain events occur and are put by us into the great communication washing machine must be treated with the utmost caution.
The fear for our own species, for our own preservation paradoxically leads us to take rescue measures out of sheer fear, which, put into perspective, cannot be fully reliable as to their effect. Keyword: monocausality.
What medicine someone wants to believe in is important. We must not denigrate this, but we must be very critical and should be, even if there is a current that can be considered overwhelming.
Indeed. The complex structure of nature makes it such that there is a solution to virtually all problems, even those that are yet to surface. If left untended enough, nature will find a way to heal itself. That is why man must do the barest minimum to disrupt nature because therein lies our survival.
Thanks for coming around with such a nice input.