Artemisia annua is widely distributed throughout the world. It is one of the most important plants used in traditional medicine in China and Africa. It has been brought to light again very recently in Madagascar for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

Commonly known as wormwood or sweet sage, Artemisia annua has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for fevers, inflammations, headaches, bleeding and malaria. In vitro studies show that artemisinin, the active ingredient in Absinthe annua, may be an effective treatment for protozoan infections such as leishmaniasis, Chagas disease and African sleep disorders.

Traditional therapies have been used for thousands of years to prevent and treat infectious diseases, especially in developing countries. With increasing interest in the plant Artemisia annua, known for its anti-malarial properties, it has been studied for its numerous biological activities, such as metabolic, anticancer, antimicrobial and immunoregulatory properties. Artemisia annua is very rich in secondary metabolites, such as monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes and phenolic compounds, of which the biological properties have been extensively studied.

Artemisinin and its derivatives of the Artemisia annua plant, in particular artesunate, have potent inhibitory effects against double-stranded DNA viruses, including CytoMegaloVirus (CMV), Herpes Simplex Virus 1 (HSV-1), Human Herpes Virus 6A (HHC-1). ) and Epstein - Barr Virus (EBV)

The Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany, is partnering with ArtemiLife Inc., a US-based company and medical researchers in Denmark and Germany to test Artemisia annua plant extract and artemisinin derivatives in laboratory cell studies. against Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus.

There are currently no effective treatments for Covid-19. Commonly used drugs against malaria or Ebola, as well as antiviral drugs, are being tested for repositioning. Herbal remedies used in Traditional Chinese Medicine have been explored to treat coronavirus infections during the Sars-CoV and Mers-CoV epidemics. Initial studies in China showed that the alcoholic extract of Artemisia annua was the second most potent herbal medicine used in 2005 against Sars-CoV.

Covid-19 is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (Sars-CoV-2), a positive RNA monoclonal virus that is contagious to humans. Like the Sars-related Coranovirus strain involved in Sars events in the early 2000s, Sars-CoV-2 is a member of the same subgenus. Sars-CoV-2 is unique among known β-coronaviruses when integrated into a polybasic cleavage site, a feature known to increase pathogenicity and transmissibility to other viruses.
"Given the similarities between these two viruses, plant extracts and artemisinin derivatives should be tested against the new coronavirus," both sides said.

Source: Artemisia annua to be tested against coronavirus