SvenskaCoronaviruses have caused two large-scale pandemics in the past two decades, SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Today we are struggling with COVID-19. Typical clinical symptoms are fever, dry cough, breathing difficulties (dyspnoea), headache etc. We have lived with the virus and the disease for months and we are becoming adapted to the situation. It is important though to not relax. To not touch the face, wash your hands and so on. Stay at home if you are sick. In conclusion, to adapt is to survive.
There is not much to do but to follow the guidelines from health authorities. Today I remembered the outbreak of SARS in 2003, and at that time I studied pharmacology. I remember that I didn’t pay much attention to the virus and I thought that it was far away. However, I do clearly remember a black face mask where SARS was written with white capital letters.
There are no good pharmacological tools available today to treat COVID-19. I searched some literature from that time about SARS, and found very little on active antiviral compounds. I found a publication on liquorice root. Countries producing liquorice include India 🇮🇳, Iran 🇮🇷, Italy 🇮🇹, Afghanistan 🇦🇫, the People’s Republic of China 🇨🇳, Pakistan 🇵🇰, Iraq 🇮🇶, Azerbaijan 🇦🇿, Uzbekistan 🇺🇿, Turkmenistan 🇹🇲 and Turkey 🇹🇷. Much of the sweetness in liquorice comes from glycyrrhizin. It is well known that excessive consumption of liquorice can cause increased blood pressure. Interestingly, glycyrrhizin from liquorice root has been suggested to be useful in the treatment of SARS. I found a study, but no repeated study or continued research. It should be noted that this is an in vitro study with Vero cells from African green monkeys. Inhibition of virus replication was demonstrated, but as usually, in vivo is much more complicated. Curiously, you can browse this publication: Glycyrrhizin in liquorice root
