Peruvian Medicinal Plants and Cosmopolitan Plants with Potential use in the Treatment of Respiratory Diseases and COVID-19

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, responsible for COVID-19, has caused more than 157 million infections and more than 3.2 million deaths. A short-term solution is the production of vaccines that confer temporary or permanent immunity. However, the genetic variants of the virus, with greater contagion and lethality capacity, the economic limitations of many countries in the world to acquire vaccines, the limited and controversial effectiveness of the drugs tested, the logistical problems of conservation and distribution of vaccines, among others, lead to proposing and developing other alternatives. One of these alternatives is the use of medicinal plants, especially those plants traditionally used in the treatment of respiratory tract diseases, both in Peru and the world, without risks or collateral problems for the human being and validated with phytochemical and ethnopharmacological studies. The flora of Peru is particularly rich in these species and even more so in endemic species, potentially useful against SARS-CoV-2. The aim of this review is to highlight some Peruvian medicinal plants and species introduced and commercialized in Peru (Cosmopolitan species) potentially useful in the treatment of respiratory diseases and COVID-19.