Blood pH and COVID-19.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a worldwide war. Raising the blood pH might be a crucial strategy to chase COVID-19. The human blood is slightly alkaline, which is essential for cell metabolism, normal physiology, and balanced immunity since all of these biological processes are pH-dependent. Varieties of physiologic derangements occur when the blood pH is disrupted. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) proliferates in acidic blood that magnifies the severity of COVID-19. On the other side, blood acidemia is linked to increased morbidity and mortality because of its complications on immunity, especially in the elderly and in critical diseases such as cancer, musculoskeletal degradation, renal, cardiac, and pulmonary disorders, which result in many pathological disorders such as osteomalacia, and disturbing the hematopoiesis. Additionally, acidemia of the blood facilitates viral infection and progression. Thus, correcting the acid-base balance might be a crucial strategy for the treatment of COVID-19, which might be attributed to the distraction of the viral spike protein to its cognate receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 and supporting the over-taxed immunity.

Essential Oils and COVID-19.

Herbal products are a major source of herbal medicines and other medicines. Essential oils have shown various pharmacological activities, such as antiviral activity, and therefore are proposed to have potential activity against SARS-CoV-2. Due to their lipophilicity, essential oils can easily penetrate the viral membrane and cause the viral membrane to rupture. In addition, crude essential oils usually have many active constituents that can act on different parts of the virus including its cell entry, translation, transcription, and assembly. They have further beneficial pharmacological effects on the host's respiratory system, including anti-inflammatory, immune regulation, bronchiectasis, and mucolytics. This review reported potential essential oils which could be promising drugs for COVID-19 eradication. Essential oils have many advantages because they are promising volatile antiviral molecules, making them potential drug targets for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, whether used alone or in combination with other chemotherapeutic drugs. The aim of the current review is to shed light on the potential essential oils against enveloped viruses and their proposed activity against SARS-CoV-2 which is also an enveloped virus. The objectives were to present all data reflecting the promising activities of diverse essential oils against enveloped viruses and how they could contribute to the eradication of COVID disease, especially in indoor places. The data collected for the current review were obtained through the SciFinder database, Google scholar, PubMed, and Mendeley database. The data of the current review focused on the most common essential oils which are available in the pharmaceutical market and showed noticeable activities against enveloped viruses such as HSV and influenza.

Ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants of bejaia localities from algeria to prevent and treat coronavirus (COVID-19) infection shortened title: phytomedicine to manage COVID-19 pandemic

The propagation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria has pushed the population searching alternative therapies as preventives and treatment selections. The use of medicinal plants is a promising alternative solution to strengthen immunity and chase COVID-19. The aim of this study was to carry out an ethnobotanical survey in the Bejaia department (Algeria) to identify the plants used during the current pandemic. The study was conducted from February to May 2021. The interviews were conducted with 400 informants in order to assemble socio-demographic and floristic features of the respondents and used plants. The data analysis was performed by means of Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC), Family Importance Value (FIV), and Plant Part Value (PPV). 23 medicinal plants belonging to 12 families were adopted by the population of the Bejaia localities to prevent and treat COVID-19 infection. Aloysia citriodora Palau (RFC = 0.248), Mentha spicata L. (RFC = 0.145), Citrus limon (L.) Osbeck (RFC = 0.135), Thymus vulgaris L. (RFC = 0.118), Zingiber officinalis  Roscoe (RFC = 0.09), Artemisia herba-alba Asso (RFC = 0.065), and Eucalyptus globules labill (RFC = 0.063) were the most cited species. The leaves of these plants which are used (65%) in the form of infusion (43.6%) are administered orally (95.03%) to treat and relieve certain symptoms of COVID-19. The current survey is the only one in the Bejaia department regarding the exploitation of medicinal herbs in the COVID-19 pandemic. These plants can be used as a platform to manage COVID-19.