Exploring medicinal plants as promising remedies for Respiratory Syncytial Virus infections

Viral infections have had a significant impact on people's health, and their frequency has increased in recent decades. Among these, the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is most significant. It is responsible for severe acute illness, mainly in young infants. It poses a high risk for immunosuppressed individuals. It is an enveloped virus with a single-stranded, negative-sense RNA genome belonging to the family Paramyxoviridae. No safe vaccine is available for RSV. Ribavirin can be used to treat RSV, but it has serious side effects. Medicinal plants are well-known sources of therapeutic agents for the treatment of viral and other infections. Evaluation of medicinal plants is crucial for developing and synthesizing drugs for different therapeutic targets. Antiviral potential of several phytocompounds isolated from medicinal plants has been thoroughly investigated. This review intends to seek awareness of preventive and therapeutic measures of medicinal plants against RSV illness, which is a persistent cause of death in infants globally. The main focus is on the antiviral activities of various plant extracts and their natural compounds against RSV. Experimental results, including their CC₅₀, IC₅₀, and SI values, were collected from the literature and discussed for their anti-RSV activity to assess the potential activity of compounds. Various medicinal plants include Rosmarinus officinalis, Cimicifuga foetida, Panax ginseng, Coptidis rhizoma, Glycyrrhiza uralensis, flos Lonicerae, Nauclea latifolia, Plantago asiatica, Clerodendrum trichomum, Schefflera heptophyla, Lophatherum gracile, Citrus reticulata, Blumea laciniata, Markhamia lutea, Euphorbia jolkinii, Vigna radiata, Scutelaria indica, Sargassum fusiforme, etc., which have been used to in vitro or in vivo anti-RSV activity.