Abstract

Background: Viruses cause various human diseases, some of which become pandemic outbreaks. This study synthesized evidence on antiviral medicinal plants in Africa which could potentially be further studied for viral infections including Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) treatment. Methods: PUBMED, CINAHIL, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Google databases were searched through keywords; antiviral, plant, herb, and Africa were combined using “AND” and “OR”. In-vitro studies, in-vivo studies, or clinical trials on botanical medicine used for the treatment of viruses in Africa were included. Results: Thirty-six studies were included in the evidence synthesis. Three hundred and twenty-eight plants were screened for antiviral activities of which 127 showed noteworthy activities against 25 viral species. These, were Poliovirus (42 plants), HSV (34 plants), Coxsackievirus (16 plants), Rhinovirus (14plants), Influenza (12 plants), Astrovirus (11 plants), SARS-CoV-2 (10 plants), HIV (10 plants), Echovirus (8 plants), Parvovirus (6 plants), Semiliki forest virus (5 plants), Measles virus (5 plants), Hepatitis virus (3 plants), Canine distemper virus (3 plants), Zika virus (2 plants), Vesicular stomatitis virus T2 (2 plants). Feline herpesvirus (FHV-1), Enterovirus, Dengue virus, Ebola virus, Chikungunya virus, Yellow fever virus, Respiratory syncytial virus, Rift Valley fever virus, Human cytomegalovirus each showed sensitivities to one plant. Conclusion: The current study provided a list of African medicinal plants which demonstrated antiviral activities and could potentially be candidates for COVID-19 treatment. However, all studies were preliminary and in vitro screening. Further in vivo studies are required for plant-based management of viral diseases.

Highlights

  • Viruses cause various human diseases, some of which become pandemic outbreaks

  • This study aimed to summarize the evidence on antiviral medicinal plants in Africa which could potentially be further studied for COVID19 treatment

  • Studies conducted on medicinal plants outside of Africa were excluded from the study

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Summary

Introduction

Viruses cause various human diseases, some of which become pandemic outbreaks. Viruses cause various human diseases of which several such as Ebola, HIV/AIDS, and Hepatitis B are hard to treat. Many pandemic outbreaks in world history were caused by a viral infection. Ebola virus outbreak between 2013 and 2016 with 11323 deaths (Trilla et al, 2008), Coronavirus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) with deaths of 229 (World Health Organization, 2003), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) as of May 31, 2015, which had 483 (40%) mortality (Zumla et al, 2015) are some of the recorded global pandemics. Since December 2019 the world is suffering from Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with more than 197 million people infected and more than 4, 219, 861 deaths as of August 4, 2021 (World Health Organization, 2020)

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