Medicinal plants for the therapy of long-COVID symptoms

At the beginning of the corona pandemic, the prevailing opinion was that antiviral agents and effective vaccines were primarily needed to combat it. The extremely varied and difficult-to-grasp symptoms that result from a corona infection, resulting in Covid-19 disease, only came into the focus of science much later and are currently only insufficiently researched. The suspected spike proteins of the viral envelope are likely to cause micro blood clots and provoke autoimmune reactions affecting blood flow and function of many organs, especially central nervous system blood flow. Unfortunately, these symptoms can affect approxmately 60% of the population and can last longer than a month, although therapy can currently only be symptomatic and not causal. All long-term health consequences that can occur after infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus are summarized under the generic term "long covid", which encompasses symptoms that persist, worsen or reappear more than 4 weeks after contracting the coronavirus. Complaints that persist after 3 months and persist or recur for at least 2 months are referred to as post-Covid syndrome. In the treatment of the various symptoms, which in addition to the respiratory tract particularly affecting the central nervous system, the digestive tract and the cardiovascular system, there are excellent starting points for phytotherapeutic treatment. Depending on the symptoms, which are individually very diverse, phytotherapy can be very easily customized by combining different medicinal plants. Rhodiola rosea in particular should be highlighted as a medicinal plant for treating fatigue syndrome and Ginkgo biloba for neuronal disorders.

Ginkgo biloba in the relief of neurological symptoms after COVID-19

COVID-19 is a disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, multi-organ, with a wide spectrum of symptoms, the most common being pneumonia with fever, dry cough and shortness of breath. There are more and more reports of persistent long-term effects, especially after acute disease. Regardless of the way the virus enters the brain, it attacks neurons, contributing to neurological complications. The main symptoms of the central and peripheral nervous system are dizziness and headaches, impaired consciousness, sometimes acute ischemic stroke and intracranial hemorrhages, loss of taste and smell, visual disturbances, neuralgia and skeletal muscle damage. After recovery, patients experience symptoms such as persistent fatigue, diffuse muscle aches, symptoms of depression, non-renewable sleep, tinnitus, and erectile dysfunction. Early intervention and supportive care at the end of the acute phase of COVID-19 could alleviate the symptoms of the disease as well as prevent their long-term consequences. Taking into account plant raw materials, the standardized extract of Ginkgo leaves (Ginkgo biloba) may be useful at various stages of the disease: it prevents the penetration of the virus into the host cells, has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antithrombotic properties, and above all, it is the only plant material with proven neuroprotective and neuroregulatory properties, widely used in the treatment of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other diseases and disorders related to the nervous system.