In-Vitro antiviral screening of sphaeranthus indicus Linn leaf extract against herpes simplex 1 & 2 viruses

Abstract EN

Background: Many human skin diseases have been attributed to viral etiology.

Few of them are well recorded from ancient times and remedies have been described in traditional medicines.

Due to mutation rate of viruses which allowed them to rapidly and continuously develop, as well as create new strains that are resistant to the existing commercially available antivirals.

There is an increasing demand for new antivirals due to drug resistance and mutations, development of new targeted antiviral drugs is in need to control these viral infections.

Objectives: The aim of the present work was studying the antiviral action of the herb sphaeranthus in their original form of therapeutic formulation administered traditionally.

Methods and materials: Aqueous and ethanolic extract of Sphaeranthus indicus were evaluated for antiviral activity against Herpes simplex 1& 2 virus by micro tissue culture assay (MTCA).

Results: The results showed that a minimum concentration of 125 and 75 µg of both aqueous and ethanolic sphaeranthus extracts exhibited anti HSV-1 & 2 activities.

Conclusion: The aqueous and ethanolic extracts of sphaeranthus showed recordable antiviral activity against HSV 1 and 2 viruses.