The staff of the Siberian Botanical Garden and the TSU Biological Institute suggest using dyer’s woad (Isatis tinctoria) as a complex measure for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. А unique plant from the cruciferous family, its high antiviral and antimicrobial activity were confirmed by the research of Vector, the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology.
According to TSU scientists, effective approaches are needed to protect the population in the coronavirus pandemic. One such measure could be the use of dyer’s woad grass and root for the manufacture of preventive and therapeutic plant-based treatment and prophylactic complexes. It was in fact dyer’s woad water extracts, along with Japanese honeysuckle, that were used to treat patients with the SARS virus (another type of coronavirus – SARS-CoV) in China in 2003. This disease is best known in the world as Avian influenza.
The State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector (Novosibirsk) investigated the effects of dyer’s woad, red peony, and Japanese honeysuckle in in-vitro experiments on sensitive cell cultures using influenza, measles, and mumps viruses and in-vivo experiments on a mouse model using Avian influenza virus subtype H5N1. A series of experiments confirmed the high biological activity of the dyer’s woad root. After its use, more than half of the rodents infected with the Avian influenza virus survived. The maximum protection coefficient was recorded in Japanese honeysuckle, which turned out to be effective, including for measles and mumps viruses.