Could Celastrol Nanosystem be Suitable for the Treatment of COVID-19?

The COVID-19 pandemic occurred over two years and has not yet been finished. There are some possible Chinese medicines formulations used to prevent and treat COVID-19. Single pure herbal such as curcumin is the most common to combat SARS-CoV-2 with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, antitumor, and hepatoprotective properties. This short communication describes another single pure herbal, "Celastrol”, research progress and its nanosystem for the treatment of COVID-19. © 2022 by the authors.

Could Celastrol Nanosystem be Suitable for the Treatment of COVID-19?

The COVID-19 pandemic occurred over two years and has not yet been finished. There are some possible Chinese medicines formulations used to prevent and treat COVID-19. Single pure herbal such as curcumin is the most common to combat SARS-CoV-2 with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, antitumor, and hepatoprotective properties. This short communication describes another single pure herbal, "Celastrol", research progress and its nanosystem for the treatment of COVID-19.

Could Celastrol Nanosystem be Suitable for the Treatment of COVID-19?

The COVID-19 pandemic occurred over two years and has not yet been finished. There are some possible Chinese medicines formulations used to prevent and treat COVID-19. Single pure herbal such as curcumin is the most common to combat SARS-CoV-2 with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, antitumor, and hepatoprotective properties. This short communication describes another single pure herbal, “Celastrol”, research progress and its nanosystem for the treatment of COVID-19. © 2022 by the authors.

Could Curcumin be Used for the Removal or Purification of SARS-CoV-2 in Wastewater?

The COVID-19 pandemic has not yet finished. Many scientists are still thinking about how to measure the SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Curcumin is traditional Chinese medicine with various biological activities, such as antimicrobial and antiviral properties. However, due to its lower bioavailability, curcumin is required with the help of nanotechnology to enhance these characteristics. Could curcumin be used for the removal or purification of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater? This short communication describes the background of COVID-19, the research progress of curcumin, and its nanonisation to remove or purify SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. © 2022 by the authors.

Could Curcumin hydrogel for photodynamic therapy fight against SARS-CoV-2?

A traditional Chinese medicine “Curcumin” has been used as a photosensitizer in the application of photodynamic therapy such a long time. However, it has significant limitations, including poor “solubility” and “absorbtivity”. “Hydrogel” is being used to overcome these problems, which enhance the biodegradability and biocompatibility of curcumin. This present article discusses the background, research progress, and clinical study to describe the possibility of curcumin hydrogel for photodynamic therapy fight against SARS-CoV-2. Based on the literature review finding, curcumin as a photosensitizer uses a microcatheter to incorporate the hydrogel systemically or locally into the lungs through the pulmonary artery to combat SARS-CoV-2. It is extracorporeal illumination for photodynamic therapy, which exposure to blue light with a mean wavelength of 450 nm is a much safe and limited depth of photodynamic therapy treatment. Thus, curcumin incorporated with the hydrogel is a suitable candidate used for the photodynamic treatment of SARS-CoV-2, cancer, wound healing, and bacterial infection. © 2022 by the authors.

"Third wave" of COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. (Special Issue: Pandemic COVID19.)

COVID-19 pandemic seems to be stabilized during the previous month with no local case and foreign input cases only. However, there was a 59-year-old chef local case discovered in Kwun Tong Hong Kong on the 6 July recently. The number of local confirmed cases become more than double in a week from the 6-12 July. In early 29 March, 2020, the Hong Kong Chief Executive and its Council were legislated "Prevention and Control of Disease Regulation", from the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance under section 82. Based on the confirmed case, it has been indicated that the indoor spread of SARS-CoV-2 in a restaurant is indisputable as the transmission of COVID-19 via respiratory droplets within a short distance of 2 m and human-to-human transmission or by contaminated surfaces leading to infection through contact3. If air is not circulating and the place is crowded, its virus easily existing in the air and infected to the respiratory tract for replication. Although the restaurant has a clapboard to isolate customers from each other, this is not enough to block the spread of the virus, so it's better to take away and reduce eating out. As the elderly immune system normally is not good, so when visitors and staffs infected with COVID-19, it increases the risk of infection to other elderly especially underlying medical conditions consist of chronic lung disease, immunocompromising conditions and diabetes. The transmission chain of COVID-19 has never been broken and its pandemic rebound again in Hong Kong. Everyone should be vigilant, pay more attention to the rules of social distance and personal hygiene, do not slacken to fight against COVID-19. The SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 would become difficult to measure because of the mutation, it has a higher transmission rate from human-to-human. If ignored these prevention and control guidelines of COVID-19, Hong Kong will face more challenges after the following days, more infection and confirmed cases appeared.

Traditional Chinese herb, Astragalus: Possible for treatment and prevention of COVID-19?

Astragalus is a traditional herb which has been used in China for a long time. It regulates blood circulation (vital energy), invigorates body fluid circulation, protects the flow of blood to fight against the attack of pathogens, and strengthens “blood deficiencies” according to Bencao Congxin. Astragalus was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2009 as a dietary supplement for upper respiratory infections, allergic rhinitis (hay fever), asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, and chronic kidney disease. Thirty journals published in the past ten years were reviewed by using library search engines such as SCI/SCIE, PubMed, and Scopus. In this mini-review, we focus on the anti-inflammatory of Astragalus features, discuss the background of Astragalus and its function in various diseases from water-extracted Astragalus membranaceus, Astragalus saponins, and Astragalus polysaccharides. Based on the traditional Chinese medicine theory, Astragalus is a potential candidate to treat and prevent COVID-19. © 2020 Sciendo. All rights reserved.

Use of Chinese medicine in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in China and Asia

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss the use of Chinese medicine in the prevention and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China and Asia. Design/methodology/approach: This paper provides a brief overview of the COVID-19. Based on the syndrome differentiation (辨證論治), the concept of clearing heat and detoxifying lung in traditional Chinese medicine is used to prevent and treat COVID-19 through restoring the vital qi (正氣) in human body and regulating the lung as well as spleen to strengthen the immune system. Traditional Chinese medicine has been used as a complementary therapy for the possible intervention of COVID-19 including traditional Chinese herbal decoctions, Chinese traditional patent medicines, acupuncture and moxibustion as well as the traditional health exercises in China and parts of Asia. Findings: Traditional Chinese medicine plays a significant role in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 pandemic. The infection cases of China are around 80,000 and a steady decline compared with the USA which has 5,000,000 infection cases and continuous increases. It is shown that more than 90% of patients recovered after the treatment of traditional Chinese herbal decoctions and Chinese traditional patent medicines without any side-effect compared to the use of Remdesivir (GS-5734). Acupuncture (針刺) and moxibustion (艾灸) stimulate the immune and nervous systems for preventing infectious diseases. Taichi (太極) and Baduanjin (八段錦) as the auxiliary aerobic exercise under the theory of Chinese medicine can enhance the immune system and improve the lung function. Thus, an integration of traditional Chinese Medicine and Western medicine is the best strategy for the prevention, treatment and control of COVID-19 pandemic in the future. Originality/value: This paper describes traditional Chinese medicine as an effective way for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.