The Therapeutic Potential of Spirulina to Combat COVID-19 Infection

El-Sheekh, Mostafa; Abomohra, Abd El-Fatah

doi:10.21608/ejbo.2020.49345.1581

The Therapeutic Potential of Spirulina to Combat COVID-19 Infection

Document Type : Mini Review

Authors

Mostafa El-Sheekh ¹
Abd El-Fatah Abomohra ¹^{, 2}

¹ Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, 31527 Tanta, Egypt

² Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China

10.21608/ejbo.2020.49345.1581

Abstract

MANY countries and labs are currently looking for a COVID-19 vaccine but have yet to explore it. Many species of Spirulina contain significant active compounds such as sulfated polysaccharides, phenols, phycobiliproteins, and calcium spirulan with inhibition activity against replication of viruses, especially influenza A (H1N1), HCV , and HIV viral infection. As there is no vaccine was approved against COVID-19, the potential of using Spirulina as antivirus and an immune agent has been tested for many viruses, and this encourages using the Spirulina as a whole amount or its extract for immunization against COVID-19, the causative pathogen of Coronavirus disease. The present article discusses some of the important studies on the therapeutic antiviral activities of the cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis.

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