Can medicinal plants contribute to the cure of Tunisian COVID-19 patients?

Abstract

The recourse to the medicinal plants in treating flu is frequent in Tunisia. In fact, Tunisian patients have been attracted by using medicinal plants as an informal way to treat COVID-19 illness. A questionnaire concerning the use of medicinal plants has been proposed to seven COVID-19 patients. Results showed that 16 medicinal plants, namely Allium cepa, Allium sativum, Camelia sinensis, Capsicum annum,Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Citrus limon, Citrus sinensis,Eucalyptus globulus, Mentha spicata, Nigella sativa, Rosmarinus officinalis, Syzygium aromaticum, Thymus capitatus, Trigonella foenum-graecum, Verbena officinalis and Zingiber officinale, have been used by COVID-19 patients for their antiviral activities due to the presence of various complex chemical substances as organosulfur compounds, phenols, flavonoids, saponins, triterpenoids, sterols, vitamins, monoterpenes, phenylpropanoids and alkaloids.Other medications (Zithromax and paracetamol) and other natural substances (honey, zinc, vitamin C and vitamin D) were simultaneously used with medicinal plants to treat COVID-19 illness establishing for these patients an important solution to solve the problems related to COVID-19.