Respiratory Viral Infections and the Role of Medicinal Plants in Prevention and Treatment

Medicinal plants have a wide range of applications due to their efficacy, low side effects, and phytochemical substances that are effective in the treatment of a variety of disorders, including viral infections of the respiratory system. Treatment of disorders with effective medicinal plants prevents or reduces infections in a variety of ways. The majority of these methods have an anti-viral effect by suppressing respiratory virus transcription. Traditional medicine uses medicinal plants to treat viral diseases, particularly respiratory viruses such as the Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Human Parainfluenza Viruses (HPIV), Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV), Rhinovirus (HRV), Respiratory Adenoviruses (HadV), Human Coronaviruses related to SARS (CoV), SARS Coronavirus (SARS-CoV), and Human Bocavirus (HBoV). Due to the significance of this topic in the last few decades in the treatment of various diseases, this chapter focuses on the use of medicinal plants to treat respiratory viruses.