Antiviral herbs--present and future

Abstract

Viral disease is a calamity which absolutely can not be ignored for human health. The emergence of drug resistance and spread of new virus will be the new challenge against viral disease. To find and develop new antivirus agents with properties of safety, significant effect and low toxicity is the pressing question facing humans today. Because of its advantages, including rich resources, low price, less adverse effect, Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have become the research focus in antiviral treatment. In recent years, there are numerous articles about the studies from separation of active ingredients to the antiviral mechanism. In this paper, the progress in experimental study was illustrated on the basis of active ingredients, species of virus, mechanism, clinical application. Obviously, TCM have obvious advantages in the treatment of virus infectious disease and has a broad prospect of application.