ABSTRACT
Background: vitamin D influences the immune system and the inflammatory response. It is known that vitamin D supplementation reduces the risk of acute respiratory tract infection. In the last two years, many researchers have investigated vitamin D's role in the pathophysiology of COVID-19 disease. Results: the findings obtained from clinical trials and systematic reviews highlight that most patients with COVID-19 have decreased vitamin D levels and low levels of vitamin D increase the risk of severe disease. This evidence seems to be also confirmed in the pediatric population. Conclusions: further studies (systematic review and meta-analysis) conducted on children are needed to confirm that vitamin D affects COVID-19 outcomes and to determine the effectiveness of supplementation and the appropriate dose, duration and mode of administration.
ABSTRACT
Several plants have traditionally been used since antiquity to treat various gastroenteritis and respiratory symptoms similar to COVID-19 outcomes. The common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever or chills, cold, cough, flu, headache, diarrhoea, tiredness/fatigue, sore throat, loss of taste or smell, asthma, shortness of breath, or difficulty breathing, etc. This study aims to find out the plants and plant-derived products which are being used by the COVID-19 infected patients in Bangladesh and how those plants are being used for the management of COVID-19 symptoms. In this study, online and partially in-person survey interviews were carried out among Bangladeshi respondents. We selected Bangladeshi COVID-19 patients who were detected Coronavirus positive (+) by RT-PCR nucleic acid test and later recovered. Furthermore, identified plant species from the surveys were thoroughly investigated for safety and efficacy based on the previous ethnomedicinal usage reports. Based on the published data, they were also reviewed for their significant potentialities as antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory agents. We explored comprehensive information about a total of 26 plant species, belonging to 23 genera and 17 different botanical families, used in COVID-19 treatment as home remedies by the respondents. Most of the plants and plant-derived products were collected directly from the local marketplace. According to our survey results, greatly top 5 cited plant species measured as per the highest RFC value are Camellia sinensis (1.0) > Allium sativum (0.984) > Azadirachta indica (0.966) > Zingiber officinale (0.966) > Syzygium aromaticum (0.943). Previously published ethnomedicinal usage reports, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory activity of the concerned plant species also support our results. Thus, the survey and review analysis simultaneously reveals that these reported plants and plant-derived products might be promising candidates for the treatment of COVID-19. Moreover, this study clarifies the reported plants for their safety during COVID-19 management and thereby supporting them to include in any future pre-clinical and clinical investigation for developing herbal COVID-19 therapeutics.
ABSTRACT
The fast spread of SARS-CoV-2 presented a worldwide challenge to public health, economy, and educational system, affecting wellbeing of human society. With high transmission rates, there are increasing evidences of COVID-19 spread via bioaerosols from an infected person. The current review was conducted to examine airborne pollen impact on COVID-19 transmission and to identify the major gaps for post-pandemic research. The study used all key terms to identify revenant literature and observation were collated for the current research. Based on existing literature, there is a potential association between pollen bioaerosols and COVID-19. There are few studies focusing the impact of airborne pollen on SARS-CoV-2, which could be useful to advance future research. Allergic rhinitis and asthma patients were found to have pre-modified immune activation, which could help to provide protection against COVID-19. However, does airborne pollen acts as a potent carrier for SARS-CoV-2 transport, dispersal and its proliferation still require multidisciplinary research. Further, a clear conclusion cannot be drawn due to limited evidence and hence more research is needed to show how pollen bioaerosols could affect virus survivals. The small but growing literature review focuses on searching for every possible answer to provide additional security layers to overcome near future corona-like infectious diseases.