Chicken pepper soup CREDIT: youtube.com
Following the confirmation of the first case of novel coronavirus
(COVID-19), last Friday, in Nigeria, the media have been awash with
claims of herbal cures for the killer disease.
Until now, scientists insist that viral infections do not have any
cures and will always run their courses of between two weeks to 28 days.
They said the body can only be helped with treatments to ameliorate or
remove the symptoms and prevent complications. They, however, said
viruses could be prevented by immunisation with vaccines and boosting
the immune systems with several other methods.
Meanwhile, the most interesting one is the claim that the virus can
be ‘cured’ with pepper. It claims that coronavirus can be seen as a
‘Pepper Deficient Syndrome’, and indicates that eating pepper soup can
offer protection.
Also, the CNN reported that the University of Nebraska Medical Center
(UNMC), United States, doctors were not just providing top tier medical
care to coronavirus patients, on a cruise ship docked off the cost of
Japan, they are also supporting them as they battle the symptoms.
UNMC’s division of infectious diseases chief, Dr. Mark Rupp, told CNN
that the hospital is providing patients with chicken soup and
antipyretics, or anti-fever medicine like Tylenol or Motrin.
Before now, chicken soup has been recommended as natural cure for common cold.
However, while pepper has been shown to have antioxidant,
detoxification and antimicrobial properties, there is no evidence that
it can cure coronavirus.
According to a study titled “Remdesivir and chloroquine effectively
inhibit the recently emerged novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in vitro” and
published in the journal Nature, remdesivir and chloroquine are highly
effective in the control of 2019-nCoV (COVID-19) infections in vitro.
“Since these compounds have been used in human patients with a safety
track record and shown to be effective against various ailments, we
suggest that they should be assessed in human patients suffering from
the novel coronavirus disease,” the researchers noted.
Chloroquine was derived from the bark of Cinchona tree.
Also, a Professor of Virology at Michael Okpara University of
Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), Abia state, Maduike Ezeibe, claims has a
cure for the coronavirus.
Ezeibe said the therapy he invented for the treatment of Human
Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
called MSAMS, is also a cure for COVID-19 and Lassa fever.
Also, an herbalist living in Turkey’s eastern province of Van claimed
on Monday that he can cure the deadly coronavirus and with nothing but
herbs.
Putting his concoctions on par with modern medicine, Mehmet Kasım
Alageyik said no disease or ailment is able to withstand his remedies,
as he went on to claim that he has cured dozens of conditions from skin
cancer to cerebral palsy.
Elaborating on his solution for the coronavirus, Alageyik said his
medicine was a mixture of different herbs that would kill the virus.
“The government can have it and run tests on it. It will cure a patient
within 15 to 20 days,” he said.
Meanwhile, China’s state press Xinhua published an article that
claims that the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM, under the
Chinese Academy of Sciences) and the Wuhan Institute of Virology had
discovered that the Shuanghuanglian oral liquid could be used to
“inhibit” the 2019-nCoV.
Made from a blend of honeysuckle, Chinese skullcap and forsythia,
shuanghuanglian is believed to be antiviral, antibacterial and good for
the immune system; thus, it is often used to relieve symptoms such as
fever, cough and sore throat.
The report caused panic buying of the TCM both online and in
brick-and-mortar pharmacies in the country. However, the statement was
also met with a wall of skepticism from both the general public and
doctors.
In the paper, titled “Study Progress on Antiviral Activities and
Mechanisms of Flavonoids in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Natural
Medicines,” authored by researchers from the Department of Pharmacy at
Tongji Hospital, which is affiliated to Tongji Medical College of
Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, it is also
mentioned that flavonoid extracted from litchi seeds can inhibit the
proteinase activity of SARS-CoV3CL for its viral protein synthesis,
which makes it a potential treatment for SARS.
In another article, Xinhua said that eight patients infected with the
novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) had been “cured by TCM or a combination
of TCM and Western medicine in Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, epicenter of
the coronavirus outbreak.” It goes on to say that this is the first
batch of patients, of whom six were in critical condition, cured by such
treatment.
In 2019 the World Health Organization (WHO) even added Chinese
medicine to its “International Classification of Diseases” — a reference
document for medical trends and global health statistics — after years
of campaigning by Beijing.
But members of the scientific community slammed the move, with the
European Academies’ Science Advisory Council calling the decision “a
major problem” due to the lack of evidence-based practice.
Also, a professor of pharmacognosy from the University of Nigeria
Nsukka (UNN) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bioresources
Development Group (BDG), Maurice Iwu, on Monday, presented a plant-based
patented treatment for COVID-19 to the Minister of Science and
Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu.
Iwu said BDG are willing to make available the lead compounds and the
phytomedicine (IHP – Detox Tea), which is listed by the National Agency
for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and contains the
active molecule, a bicyclic diterpenoid lactone for possible evaluation
by other laboratories with appropriate testing facility both in Nigeria
and overseas.
Bioresources Institute of Nigeria (BION) is a member of the BDG, an
independent biosciences research and development organization that
cultivates, processes and produces medicines, nutraceuticals and
cosmetics from natural products.
Iwu explained: “Your Excellency will recall that when the Ebola virus
infection broke out in 2014 many people were surprised that our
research group had an experimental lead compound that was identified 15
years earlier in 1999. And now with the emergence of a novel Coronavirus
in 2019 as COVID-19 we had identified and patented a possible treatment
back in 2015.
It is very important that we must remain ahead of these emergent infections through research…
“The drug discovery project was started at the University of Nigeria
Nsukka where I was a Professor of Pharmacognosy and continued in America
when I was a visiting scholar at the Division of Experimental
Therapeutics of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington DC,
United States from 1994 -2003. It was reactivated in 2014/2015 during
the Ebola Virus epidemic and we collaborated actively with leading
laboratories from different parts of the world, which led to the
confirmation of the anti-Ebola virus activity of three structurally
characterised compounds from Nigerian plants which were subsequently
granted patent protection by the Federal Government of Nigeria –
(NG/P/2015/84; NG/P/2015/85; and NG/P/2015/97).
“During the antiviral bioassays in 2014-2015 it was discovered that
the compounds exhibited significant antiviral activity against the SARS –
Coronavirus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome – Coronavirus). One of
the test compounds (BION -3) has an EC50 of 1.2 µg/ml in the Visual
(cytopathic effect/toxicity) assay and 1.1 µg/ml in the Neutral Red
(cytopathic effect/toxicity) bioassay against SARS Coronavirus.”
The professor of pharmacognosy said the have concluded arrangements
with the Antiviral Programme of the United States National Institute of
Health (US-NIH) to subject the compound to bioassay against the Wuhan
Coronavirus (Also known as COVID-19, 2019-nCoV or 2019 Novel
Coronavirus).
Iwu said on Thursday February 27, 2020, the Bioresources Institute of
Nigeria, executed a Non-Clinical Evaluation Agreement (NCEA) with the
Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID), part of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), an
institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is a
component of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), an
agency of the U.S. Government.
He said the lead compound is one of the most studied natural products
in history with a remarkable high safety profile and its
pharmacokinetics profile and putative mechanism of action are being
reviewed. Iwu said they have under consideration possible dosage forms
including a combination product formulation of the three agents
(Rhygyfyn) described in their patents as broad-spectrum antiviral drug,
identified and developed here in Nigeria.
Indeed, in the absence of medical solutions for coronavirus, people
are turning to natural solutions such as colloidal silver. Because
colloidal silver is a broad-spectrum antivirus, that also strengthens
the immune system, it can potentially prevent or help to treat
coronavirus infection. Many people are now taking it prevents infection.
Websites that sell colloidal silver have seen an increase in article
views and purchases of colloidal silver by people in Hong Kong and
China.
A naturopathic doctor Sherrill Sellman said Silver Solution has been
tested on some of the strains of coronavirus and found to effectively
deactivate them and to boost the immune system.
Before antibiotics were invented, colloidal silver was used until
there was pressure to remove it from the market in the 20th century
because silver is natural and cannot be patented. Now companies are
permitted to use it in medical instruments and wound dressings to kill
pathogens. Many manufacturers have registered numerous patents for
colloidal silver medical products. Colloidal silver is extensively used
in medical implants, wound dressings, dental work, surgical needles,
breathing tubes, bone implant systems, fracture setting instruments and
catheters (to kill pathogens).
Consumers should ask themselves why it was banned and is now being widely used in medical products.
Research into its efficacy as an antimicrobial agent is ongoing and
it is now known to kill over 650 known pathogens within 72 hours. In one
study, three types of silver nanoparticles, one in a magnetic form,
were tested and found to effectively destroy bacteriophage ϕX174, murine
norovirus (MNV), and adenovirus serotype 2 (AdV2) under different
conditions. The magnetic form was found to be most effective.
Colloidal silver has also been found to kill and eradicate the
smallpox virus, the influenza virus and HIV-1, and to prevent HIV from
attaching to host cells. It is known to prevent infections and viruses
such as hepatitis B. It is also used to treat and prevent flu and the
common cold. A study on children up to 12 years old, with nasal
congestion and the common cold, treated half of them with a solution of
silver and beta glucan and the other half with saline solution. Both
groups benefited, but 90 per cent of the silver group completely
recovered.
There have been many other studies. Still, currently available
research evidence only reveals the surface of the potential benefits.
More research is required.
Meanwhile, Indian officials are actively promoting the use of alternative medicine to prevent the disease and manage symptoms.
Several government departments, including the Ministry of AYUSH
(Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and
Homoeopathy) and the Press Information Bureau have used social media to
circulate the questionable advice.
The Ministry of AYUSH, which promotes India’s booming yoga,
naturopathy and homoeopathy sectors, released an advisory listing herbal
oils to be rubbed into the scalp to purportedly ease the symptoms.
It also suggested ingesting Arsenicum album-30, a homoeopathic treatment.
The ministry also issued general advice on maintaining personal hygiene to prevent the spread of the virus.
Ayurvedic medicine – which means the “science of life” in Sanskrit –
treats the physical and mental sources of illness through, for example,
prescribing herbs in conjunction with yoga or massage.
The ministry said homoeopathy, the treatment of diseases with
alternative medicines prescribed in minute doses, is the main source of
healthcare for some 10 per cent of India’s 1.3-billion population.
The Unani system is a mix of traditional medicines from Egypt, Syria,
Iraq, Persia, India, China and other Middle East countries, according
to the ministry.
Apart from the recommended Ayurvedic, homoeopathy and Unani
treatments, the ministry also advised Indians who fear they have been
infected to “wear a mask and contact your nearest hospital immediately”.
Following the outbreak of COVID-19, also known as
Coronavirus, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), said
arrangement were on to spray every passenger coming into Nigeria through
the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, from high-risk
countries. 
