Acute and subacute oral toxicity characterization and safety assessment of COVID organics® (Madagascar's Anti­COVID Herbal Tea) in animal models

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. No drug has been generally approved as safe and effective for the treatment of COVID 19. Several therapeutic agents such as COVID Organics® (CVO) have been explored as treatment options. CVO is an herbal tea composed of 62% of Artemisia annua and 38% of other plants. There is presently no existing scientific report and data on the safety and efficacy of CVO herbal drug. Thus, acute and subacute toxicity studies were undertaken to evaluate the safety and toxicity of CVO on short and long term usage in animal models. Materials and Methods: Phytochemical and nutritional compositions of CVO were determined using standard methods. Acute oral toxicity was investigated using female Swiss albino mice (three per group). While subacute oral toxicity was done using female and male Swiss albino rats (five per group). The animals were administered 2000 mg/kg, 5000 mg/kg, therapeutic dose; 5500 mg/kg and supratherapeutic dose; 11,000 mg/kg of CVO herbal product. The control group received water ad libitum. The oral toxicity studies were done in accordance with Organization for Economic Corporation and Development guidelines. The experimental protocol was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (Ethics No. IRB/17/043). Results: CVO is rich in antioxidants: flavonoids(10.3%), tannins(29.1%), and phenolics(434.4 mg). It contains proteins (33.8%), carbohydrates (34.5%), fat (6.8%), and fiber (0.5%). In the acute toxicity study, no mortality was recorded in all the treated and untreated groups. The lethal dose of CVO is >5000 mg/kg body weight. The hematological, biochemical, lipid profile, and histologic parameters were all normal at therapeutic doses when compared to the control group. Conclusion: The acute and subacute oral toxicity studies revealed that CVO is not toxic. The specific organ toxicity evaluations also indicated that CVO has no toxic effects on blood parameters and vital organs structure and function at therapeutic dose. Thus, CVO is safe for short and long term usage. We recommend that CVO should be subjected to efficacy studies to investigate whether it is effective for COVID 19 treatment as claimed by the manufacturer.

Chemical and physical properties of Thai traditional shrimp paste (Ka-pi).

Thai traditional fermented shrimp paste (Ka-pi) is widely consumed as condiment and seasoning ingredient in Thailand. Chemical and physical properties of thirteen shrimp paste samples were examined. The water content and water activity (Aw) of the products ranged from 33.95-52.19 % and 0.64-0.72, respectively while salt concentration was 7.00 to 10.85 %. The nitrogen content varied from 2.87 to 6.85 % (w/w). KS1 showed the highest protein content (42.8 %) followed by SP1 and SP3 (42.4 and 41.3 %), respectively. The predominant amino acids were glutamic acid (70.1-593.9 μg/g), lysine (112.7-546.3 μg/g) and leucine (29.5-544.9 μg/g). Total bacterial cell count in the samples ranged from 1.3x103 - 2.9x105 cfu g-1 while lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were not detected. This study will be provided the information for improving the quality of products in manufacture to meet the demand of consumer.