The coronavirus disease as we know it has spread like wildfire throughout the globe, affecting the lives of more than 50 million people and has killed over 1.25 million lives globally. Most of the world is now either returning to stricter measures, experiencing their second waves or third ones thanks to the novel virus.
At a time such as this with no vaccine and treatment in sight ready to be administered save for clinical trials, a new study has surfaced indicating the benefits of honey and Nigella sativa (HNS) as treatment to patients of the virus. These natural products promote viral-clearance in patients, according to the study results.
The amount of information available on the novel virus suggests that the best treatment for this virus should effectively speed up the recovery of patients who experience symptoms, decrease the viral load in their bodies, promote viral clearance and help them outlive the virus.
So far we have borne witness to specific treatments such as hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, azithromycin, dexamethasone, and treatments like antibody therapies and while some have shown potential they do not help a person completely beat the virus.
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Knowing the odds, a team of researchers coming from different institutes across the USA, Pakistan, Canada and Chile went through with a clinical trial in hopes to understand and investigate the possible effects of the combination of Nigella sativa (HNS) and honey as a treatment for patients suffering from the disease.
Their study is published in MedRxiv on their preprint server.
Past studies have shown that the two components of HNS do have anti-viral, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and immune-modulatory benefits, in this study therefore researchers wanted to test whether the same could hold for patients ill with coronavirus.
Honey is a powerful natural product that is known to have many benefits against different viruses such as the rubella virus, herpes simplex virus (HSV), Varicella Zoster virus, and Hepatitis virus. Not only this but honey is also known to be effective against several bacterial strains that are resistant to different drugs. The effect of honey is made even stronger when consumed while also taking antibiotics.
Nigella Sativa on the other hand is a plant commonly known as black cumin known best as a medicinal plant. It too has proven to contain anti-viral properties against several viruses, such as viruses like mouse cytomegalovirus and HCV. In other vitro studies, it is evident that it can decrease the multiplication of really severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). It is also known that some parts of a high affinity to several proteins and enzymes of SARS-CoV2.
Therefore in combination these natural products promote viral-clearance in a patient’s body.
The results of this study revealed that HNS helps patients get rid of symptoms and clear the virus out of their systems. It also helped patients live out the virus even if their illness was severe or moderate. According to the researchers on the study, HNS is an effective and safe therapy for such patients since it helps them recover quicker and survive the disease. They also believe it to be a very affordable option when used alone or even with a combination of other known therapies for the virus.
They believe its accessibility and sheer price makes it a great at-home option for people suffering from the disease. The authors of the study believe it may even help take down some of the burdens that health care systems are suffering from.
