Bhagawati Saxena

By Bhagawati Saxena

Interception of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) into our life and its rapid global expansion, humanity has succumbed to a vulnerable position. COVID-19 is proclaiming millions of lives, underscores the urgent need for more effective therapeutic interventions. This disease created catastrophe and developments of new drugs and vaccines take a long duration. Hence, scientists and medical society turned their heads towards different approaches of treatment, referred to as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for eradicating the deadly virus. Ayurveda, herbal medicines, nutritional supplements, naturopathy, and yoga are some of the CAMs which have emerged as a ray of hope in these times. The understanding of the COVID-19 pathogenesis and its impact on immunity will progress the effective management of this lethal infectious disease. The host immune response has an elementary function of defense against the majority of infectious diseases including COVID-19. This chapter focuses on the utilization of various CAMs (Ayurveda, yoga, herbs, phytochemicals and nutritional supplements) in COVID-19 treatment. An additional attempt has been made in this chapter on the potential of CAMs to assist in improving immunological reactions against infections and thus may be an efficient approach in the prevention and/or management of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections.

Part of the book: Complementary Therapies