Possible role of Unani Pharmacology in COVID-19 – a narrative review

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Anzar Alam ◽  
Mohd Abdul Gani ◽  
G. Shama ◽  
Ghulamuddin Sofi ◽  
Mohd Aleemuddin Quamri

AbstractAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), viral diseases continue to rise, and pose a significant public health problem. Novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. The pathogenesis and clinical manifestations of COVID-19 is close to Amraz-e-Wabai (epidemic diseases) which was described by Hippocrates, Galen, Aristotle, Razes, Haly Abbas, Avicenna, Jurjani etc. Presently, there is no specific or challenging treatment available for COVID-19. Renowned Unani Scholars recommended during epidemic situation to stay at home, and fumigate the shelters with aromatics herbs like Ood kham (Aquilaria agallocha Roxb.), Kundur (Boswellia serrata Roxb), Kafoor (Cinnamomum camphora L.), Sandal (Santalum album L), Hing (Ferula foetida L.) etc. Use of specific Unani formulations are claimed effective for the management of such epidemic or pandemic situation like antidotes (Tiryaqe Wabai, Tiryaqe Arba, Tiryaqe Azam, Gile Armani), Herbal Decoction (Joshandah), along with Sharbate Khaksi, Habbe Bukhar, Sharbate Zanjabeel, Khamira Marwareed, Jawarish Jalinus, and Sirka (vinegar). Such drugs are claimed for use as antioxidant, immunomodulatory, cardiotonic, and general tonic actions. The study enumerates the literature regarding management of epidemics in Unani medicine and attempts to look the same in the perspective of COVID-19 prevention and management.

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebru Saatçi

AbstractThe emergence of SARS-CoV-2, responsible for COVID-19 disease, has caused a substantial worldwide pandemic and has become a significant public health problem. World Health Organization (WHO) has declared COVID-19 as a devastating health emergency for all countries. Public health officials continue to monitor the situation closely to control this new virus-related outbreak. In order to continue to manage this pandemic, a fast and sensitive diagnosis of COVID-19 is attempted. Emerging tests have become an essential part of the management of the COVID-19 crisis. This review article aims to provide a detailed explanation of ongoing and new diagnostic technologies for SARS-CoV-2 and a summary of method principles. Examples of new diagnostic methods for providing efficient and rapid diagnostic tests for managing the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak are also mentioned.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Anzar Alam ◽  
Mohd Aleemuddin Quamri ◽  
Ghulamuddin Sofi ◽  
Umme Ayman ◽  
Shabnam Ansari ◽  
...  

AbstractUnani system of medicine is based on the humoral theory postulated by Hippocrates, according to him the state of body health and disease are regulated by qualitative and quantitative equilibrium of four humours. Amraz-e-Waba is an umbrella term which is used in Unani medicine for all types of epidemics (smallpox, measles, plague, Hameer Saifi, influenza, Nipaha, Ebola, Zika, and 2019 novel coronavirus, etc.) mostly fatal in nature. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a severe acute respiratory infection, and the pathogenesis and clinical features resemble with those of Nazla-e-Wabaiya (influenza) and Zatul Riya (pneumonia) which were well described many years ago in Unani text such as high-grade fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, running nose, dry cough, respiratory distress, alternate and small pulse, asthenia, foul smell from breath, insomnia, frothy stool, syncope, coldness in both upper and lower extremities, etc. The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a global emergency pandemic. Unani scholars like Hippocrates (370–460 BC), Galen (130–200 AD), Rhazes (865–925 AD), and Avicenna (980–1037 AD) had described four etiological factors for Amraz-e-Waba viz., change in quality of air, water, Earth, and celestial bodies, accordingly mentioned various preventive measures to be adopted during epidemics such as restriction of movement, isolation or “quarantena”, and fumigation with loban (Styrax benzoin W. G. Craib ex Hartwich.), sandalwood (Santalum album L.), Zafran (Crocus sativus L.), myrtle (Myrtus communis L.), and roses (Rosa damascena Mill.) and use of vinegar (sirka) and antidotes (Tiryaq) as prophylaxis, and avoiding consumption of milk, oil, sweet, meat, and alcohol. This review focuses and elaborates on the concept, prevention, and probable management of COVID-19 in the light of Amraz-e-Waba.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 268-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyi Huang ◽  
Fengxiang Wei ◽  
Liang Hu ◽  
Lijuan Wen ◽  
Ken Chen

Since December 2019, there has been an outbreak of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in Wuhan, China. Meanwhile, the outbreak also drew attention and concern from the World Health Organization (WHO). COVID-19 is another human infectious disease caused by coronavirus. The transmission of COVID-19 is potent and the infection rate is fast. Since there is no specific drug for COVID-19, the treatment is mainly symptomatic supportive therapy. In addition, it should be pointed out that patients with severe illness need more aggressive treatment and meticulous care. Recently, accurate RNA detection has been decisive for the diagnosis of COVID-19. The development of highly sensitive RT-PCR has facilitated epidemiological studies that provide insight into the prevalence, seasonality, clinical manifestations and course of COVID-19 infection. In this review, we summarize the epidemiology and characteristics of COVID-19.


Author(s):  
Hui Yang ◽  
Yingying Lyu ◽  
Fajian Hou

Abstract The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak began in December 2019, causing the illness known as the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The virus spread rapidly worldwide to become a global public health emergency. As of 15 November 2020, more than 53 million confirmed cases and over one million deaths worldwide have been reported (World Health Organization, 2020). The SARS-CoV-2 genome was sequenced and studies are ongoing to further understand the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, etiological structure, cellular receptor angiotensin II converting enzyme (ACE2), and intracellular replication process of the virus. Currently, thousands of clinical trials related to SARS-CoV-2 are underway (https://clinicaltrials.gov/). However, no vaccines or drugs have yet been approved, until very recently, for direct treatment or prevention of COVID-19 and only supportive treatment has been applied clinically. This review will discuss the possible mechanism of the innate immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and provide insight into the development of related therapeutics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (39) ◽  
pp. 3508-3510
Author(s):  
Saramma Mini Jacob ◽  
Kanagasabai Sivasangeetha ◽  
Durairaj Anitha ◽  
Singaram Kaplana

In early January 2020, China had started raising concerns of a new contagious disease caused by new strains of coronavirus, Severe Acute Respiratory SyndromeCoronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020, had declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic. COVID-19 was transmitted from person to person through respiratory droplets generated when an infected person coughs, sneezes, breathing or through contact with a surface that has been contaminated 1 and through aerosols-airborne microdroplets.2 The clinical manifestations of COVID-19 represents a wide spectrum of disease ranging from mild to severe respiratory syndrome influenza-like illness with mainly lower respiratory tract symptoms, complicated by pneumonia and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), high fever, and headache. In many cases, loss of taste and smell and severe gastrointestinal symptoms were reported, as are cardiac problems, with the latter being perhaps secondary to a cytokine storm such as is seen in the more severely affected patients. 3 WHO COVID-19 dashboard on June 25th 2021 showed 179, 686, 071 confirmed cases worldwide.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-372
Author(s):  
Edget Abayneh ◽  
Henok Goba

Corona viruses infect many species of animals, including humans. Coronaviruses have been described for more than 50years but up to 2003, only two coronaviruses were identified to infect humans. From 2002 to 2003, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) affected more than 8000 people and caused about 800 deaths around the world. After a few years a novel coronavirus was recognized in September, 2012, later renamed Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV). In December 2019, 2019 novel Coronavirus (nCoV), which is another public health problem, has emerged in the Huanan Seafood Market, where livestock animals are also traded, in Wuhan State of Hubei Province in China and has been the focus of global attention due to a pneumonia epidemic of unknown cause. The Corona viridae Study Group of ICTV named this novel Coronavirus as SARS-Cov-2. In March 2020 the World Health Organization declared the SARS-Cov-2 virus a global pandemic. The pandemic is ongoing and its study and further scientific works on it are still running and in conclusion a one health approached are required to combat this situation with an integrated effort of human, animal and environmental health.


Author(s):  
S. V. Salo ◽  
O. V. Levchyshyna ◽  
A. Yu. Gavrylyshyn ◽  
A. K. Logutov ◽  
A. Yu. Hladun

In December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia caused by a novel coronavirus occurred in Wuhan, Hubei province, spreading rapidly first throughout China and subsequently across Europe, the United States (US), and the rest of the world. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, and on March 12, 2020, it was characterized as a pandemic. Patients exposed to this virus named as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) frequently present with fever, cough, and shortness of breath within 2 to 14 days after exposure, and then usually develop coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-related pneumonia. Although respiratory symptoms prevail among all clinical manifestations of COVID-19, preliminary studies showed that some patients may develop severe cardiovascular (CV) damage. To date, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant changes in the prevalence and pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases among the population in Ukraine and other countries and has led to a significant increase in mortality in this category of patients. These changes necessitated adjustment of drug treatment in patients with concomitant COVID-19. Conclusions. COVID-19 is a global pandemic with unpredictable consequences due to mutually reinforcing damage to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Treatment of acute coronary syndrome on the background of COVID-19 requires a systematic approach involving physicians of various specialties as well as compliance with anti-epidemic mea- sures. Interventional treatment is quite effective in treating patients with COVID-associated acute coronary syndrome. COVID-19 patients on mechanical ventilation should use intravenous P2Y12 receptor blockers or drugs that can be crushed and administered through a nasogastric tube. Cangrelor, an intravenous P2Y12 receptor blocker with fast action and high controllability, enabled to achieve the optimal result of the intervention.


2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-26
Author(s):  
Zhilla Damanabad ◽  
Leila Valizadeh ◽  
Sadollah Yeghanedoost ◽  
Fariborz Roshangar

In late December 2019, Wuhan, China, became the center of an unknown outbreak of pneumonia that spread rapidly throughout China and around the world, including Iran, and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel disease a public health emergency with global concern. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, many studies have been performed on epidemiological data and clinical signs in adults. However, coherent studies in this field are very rare in infants, and support and attention to infants in the pandemic situation should be doubled due to the weakness and underdevelopment of the neonatal immune system. Therefore, the present study aimed to review COVID-19 infection in infants in which there are discussions on topics such as diagnostic tests, clinical manifestations, recommendations on breastfeeding, the criteria for discharge, and family education in pandemic conditions. The literature review shows no existing evidence of COVID-19 placental transmission from mother to infant, and that all samples prepared from amniotic fluid, umbilical cord blood and breast milk in mothers with COVID -19 was negative for COVID-19 infection, and the clinical manifestations of COVID-19 were non-specific in infants, especially premature infants. Given that there is a limited number of births from a mother with COVID-19, and because the epidemiological and clinical pattern of COVID-19 in infants is unclear, this review study describes diagnostic tests, clinical manifestations, breastfeeding considerations, discharge criteria, and family education in the current understanding of COVID-19 infection in newborns and provides information for better management of SARS-CoV-2 infection in newborns.


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (9) ◽  
pp. 1296-1300
Author(s):  
Bruna Rafaella Santos Torres ◽  
Carlos Eduardo Ximenes da Cunha ◽  
Laís Rytholz Castro ◽  
Lara Medeiros Pirauá de Brito ◽  
Caio Victor Oliveira Ferreira ◽  
...  

SUMMARY Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the highly pathogenic SARS-Cov-2 virus, was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020. Its main clinical manifestations are related to airway involvement; however, there is extrapulmonary impairment in some cases. Given this context, this literature review aims to identify the ophthalmological conditions caused by infection with the novel coronavirus. Although ocular findings do not include the standard clinical presentation of the disease, there are reports of some ophthalmological changes in COVID-19 patients, and conjunctivitis is the most common among these.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Al Hakim ◽  
Md. Mahbub Hasan ◽  
Mahmudul Hasan ◽  
Syed Mohammad Lokman ◽  
Kazi Faizul Azim ◽  
...  

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a pandemic declared by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020, is caused by the infection of highly transmissible species of a novel coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). As of July 25, 2021, there are 194,372,584 cases and 4,167,937 deaths with high variability in clinical manifestations, disease burden, and post-disease complications among different people around the globe. Overall, COVID-19 is manifested as mild to moderate in almost 90% of the cases and only the rest 10% of the cases need hospitalization. However, patients with older age and those having different comorbidities have made worst the pandemic scenario. The variability of pathological consequences and clinical manifestations of COVID-19 is associated with differential host–SARS-CoV-2 interactions, which are influenced by the factors that originated from the SARS-CoV-2 and the host. These factors usually include the genomic attributes and virulent factors of the SARS-CoV-2, the burden of coinfection with other viruses and bacteria, age and gender of the individuals, different comorbidities, immune suppressions/deficiency, genotypes of major histocompatibility complex, and blood group antigens and antibodies. We herein retrieved and reviewed literatures from PubMed, Scopus, and Google relevant to clinical complications and pathogenesis of COVID-19 among people of different age, sex, and geographical locations; genomic characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 including its variants, host response under different variables, and comorbidities to summarize the dynamics of the host response to SARS-CoV-2 infection; and host response toward approved vaccines and treatment strategies against COVID-19. After reviewing a large number of published articles covering different aspects of host response to SARS-CoV-2, it is clear that one aspect from one region is not working with the scenario same to others, as studies have been done separately with a very small number of cases from a particular area/region of a country. Importantly, to combat such a pandemic as COVID-19, a conclusive understanding of the disease dynamics is required. This review emphasizes on the identification of the factors influencing the dynamics of host responses to SARS-CoV-2 and offers a future perspective to explore the molecular insights of COVID-19.


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