Covid-19: Wild plant extracts show potential to reduce virus infectivity. All you need to know

This was the first large-scale screening of botanical extracts for their effectiveness against the Covid virus. The results of the experiment have been published in Scientific Reports.

During laboratory tests, the researchers found that extracts from both plants prevented SARS-CoV-2 from entering human cells. However, the active compounds in plants are only present in trace amounts, making self-treatment dangerous and potentially dangerous, especially since bracken fern is known to be poisonous.

The study’s senior author and associate professor in the Emory School of Medicine’s Department of Dermatology and the Center for the Study of Human Health, Cassandra Quave, said, quoted by ANI news agency, “C’ is very early in the process, but we are working to identify, isolate and intensify molecules from the extracts that have shown activity against the virus.”

She added: “Once we have isolated the active ingredients, we plan to further test their safety and long-term potential as drugs against Covid-19.”

Both species of plants – the great goldenrod and the eagle fern – are native to North America and are known for their traditional medicinal uses by Native Americans. Additional experiments showed that the protective power of the plant extracts worked on four variants of SARS-CoV-2: Alpha, theta, delta and gamma.

Quave is an ethnobotanist who studies how traditional peoples used plants for medicine, identifying promising new candidates for modern medicines.

“Our results pave the way for the future use of natural product libraries to find new tools or therapies against infectious diseases,” she said.

The researchers’ next step is to determine the exact mechanism that allows the two plant extracts to block ACE2 protein binding. The study shows the potential of using natural product libraries to find new tools or therapies against infectious diseases.

(With agency contributions)