ABSTRACT
Pandemic influenza is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by influenza virus infection, which has the features of high incidence, widespread prevalence, and strong variability. For the prevention and treatment of influenza, Chinese materia medica (CMM) has obvious effects, relatively less toxic side effects, and it is popular and cheap, etc. Many scholars demonstrated the critical roles and mechanisms of CMM using the experiments of CMM against influenza virus. With investigating related literatures in recent years, this article summarizes the anti-influenza activities and mechanisms of actions of CMM, mainly the single herb and compound prescription, in order to provide idea and theoretical basis for future anti-influenza research.