Prospective directions for searching new medicines of plant origin, effective in infections of different etiology

Abstract

The global community is concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing capacities are mobilized and new ways to counter the growing threat are actively sought. The scientific development of traditional medicine is a promising way of solving this problem. Information on the use of medicinal plants by different peoples is fragmented and largely unavailable to the world scientific community. The flora of Azerbaijan including almost 1600 species of medicinal plants with antiviral, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, vitamin, general tonic and other properties are distributed in the Flora of Azerbaijan. Modern protocols for the treatment of infection caused by COVID-19, along with other therapeutic agents, will include drugs with the above properties. The article contains information about a computer database of medicinal plants in Azerbaijan, developed by the author in the frame of the doctoral thesis in the 2006 year. These data enable us to distinguish species with a set of biologically active substances that determine their required necessary physiological activity from the total number of medicinal plants. Therefore, the intensification of work on the study of traditional medicine and the creation of a worldwide information platform on medicinal plants can become the basis for the search and development of new antiviral drugs, including those effective and against COVID-19.