ANTIVIRAL POTENTIAL OF HERBAL MEDICINE IN FIGHTING COVID-19 PANDEMIC, RE-INVESTIGATION OF HERBAL MONOGRAPHS

Medicinal herbs have been widely used in traditional medicine for their immune-boosting potential to humans in fighting various ailments, especially viral infections causing severe respiratory diseases such as influenza virus, H5N1, coronaviruses of different types, mainly MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) that was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO), as a global pandemic. Various efforts are focusing despite the discovery of the vaccine, on finding treatments that can combat the serious complications of COVID-19, but in the absence of confirmed effective drugs, it is crucial to explore various possibilities including herbal medicines approved as antiviral agents. This study aims to identify key medicinal plants rich in bioactive compounds with antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2., with the correlation regarding the collected information on their efficacy and safety with existing data in published official monographs presented to ensure the proper use of these natural constituents. Accordingly, a comprehensive review of the published literature was conducted using various scientific databases, including Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science. The analysis revealed the need to update herbal monographs and establish a globally harmonized approach to health claims associated with herbal medicines.